Demonstrators across the United States staged a “no work, no school, no shopping” strike on Friday as part of a campaign opposing the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, with some schools canceling classes ahead of expected absenteeism and other communities planning rallies at city centers, statehouses and churches, the Associated Press reported.
The demonstrations took place amid heightened scrutiny of immigration enforcement tactics following the killings of Alex Pretti, an intensive care nurse who was shot multiple times after using a cellphone to record Border Patrol officers conducting an enforcement operation in Minneapolis, and the earlier Jan. 7 death of Renee Good, who was fatally shot behind the wheel of her vehicle by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.
In Minneapolis, protesters gathered just outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, where a line of DHS agents faced jeering chants that included calls for agents to “quit your jobs” and “get out of Minnesota,” according to the AP. After speeches from clergy members, demonstrators marched toward the building’s restricted area before many of the group dispersed after local law enforcement threatened arrests for blocking the road.
Michelle Pasko, a retired communications worker, said she joined the protest after seeing federal agents stopping immigrants at a bus stop near her home in Minnetonka, a suburb of Minneapolis. “They’re roaming our streets, they’re staying in hotels near our schools,” Pasko said, adding that the federal government had “forgotten” that people in the country have rights and that the protest aimed to remind officials of that.
Student walkouts were among the ways the strike unfolded in other states. In Michigan, dozens of students walked out of Friday morning classes at Groves High School in Birmingham and moved about a mile to a nearby business district where commuters honked in support, with Logan Albritton, a 17-year-old senior, saying the action protested ICE and its conduct “all over the country, especially in Minnesota.”
In Georgia, Abigail Daugherty, 16, organized a walkout at Collins Hill High School in Suwanee and said she had felt powerless before seeing other schools in the county take action, according to the AP. Across the country, demonstrations were also supported by social media pages and websites promoting the strike language, while businesses took varied approaches: some announced closures for the “blackout,” and others stayed open while saying they would donate a portion of proceeds to groups providing immigration support and legal aid.
In Maine, where Republican Sen. Susan Collins announced that ICE was ending an enforcement surge, people gathered outside a Portland church on Friday holding signs that used the state postal code in calls for “No ICE for ME.” Grace Valenzuela, an administrator with Portland Public Schools, said ICE’s actions created “daily trauma” in the school system and described enforcement as treating their presence as suspect. “Schools are meant to be places of learning, safety and belonging. ICE undermines that mission every time it destabilizes a family,” Valenzuela said, while Portland Mayor Mark Dion told the crowd about the importance of dissent, saying, “Dissent is Democratic. Dissent is American. It’s the cornerstone of our democracy.”
The AP also described demonstrations in Los Angeles that stretched from a City Hall gathering to a march toward a federal detention center. As the demonstration continued into the evening, federal agents began using chemical sprays to push the crowd back. Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters joined the protest and said, “What I see here at the detention center are people exercising their constitutional rights,” adding that agents were “now trying to tear gas everybody” and that “it’s in the air, but people are not moving.”
Separately, the Associated Press reported that on Thursday a student in Nebraska was hit by an SUV displaying a Trump flag during a student-led protest outside Fremont High School. Fremont Public Schools said a student was taken to a hospital but did not release details on the extent of injuries, and video from the scene showed a red SUV accelerating as the student carrying a sign walked toward the vehicle.