Businesses close, Minnesotans to stay home Friday in protest of ICE

Businesses across Minnesota will shutter temporarily Jan. 23 as part of an economic blackout intended to show support for immigrant workers, customers and neighbors who have been the target of federal agents.

The “ICE Out! Statewide Shutdown” is calling for Minnesotans to skip work, school and shopping Friday. Hundreds of small businesses, from restaurants and grocery stores to yoga studios and yarn shops, announced plans to either close their doors, donate proceeds or both — even though many said participating would hurt their bottom line.

Conceived by faith and union leaders, the shutdown is the latest in a series of organized protests in the Twin Cities and statewide since an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer killed Renee Good in Minneapolis on Jan. 7.

“It is long past due for ICE to cease, desist and leave Minnesota,” Pastor Jim Erlandson of Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in St. Paul said at a gathering with fellow faith leaders Wednesday.

A run of demonstrations has led up to the big day, from churches to malls, to construction sites and the State Capitol.

Wednesday afternoon, immigration agents descended on Minneapolis’ Karmel Mall three times and detained three people in less than two hours. Scores of Somali business owners had gathered there for a planned protest.

Bashir Garad, chair of the Karmel Mall Business Association and owner of a travel company, said he and fellow shop owners will close Friday in a show of community solidarity. The plan to shutter businesses and attend protests instead of work or school has gained momentum and support from a wide range of community members demanding ICE leave Minnesota, Garad said.

The Minnesota Star Tribune confirmed more than 300 Minnesota bars, restaurants, museums and shops that planned to close Friday, as well as dozens of postponed events.

While no public school districts are shutting down, Fridley, St. Paul, Robbinsdale and Minneapolis schools are offering remote learning options.

At the University of Minnesota, workers and leaders from three unions representing campus workers and graduate students urged President Rebecca Cunningham to close campus so employees could participate in the statewide “general strike,” said David Munkvold, an ecology Ph.D. student and field worker for the graduate students union.

On Tuesday, students, teachers and parents took part in a countdown to Friday’s shutdown on the Capitol steps. During the rally, which nonprofit Unidos MN organized, Minneapolis College student Blair Spina said she needs to call attention to her immigrant classmates who “are having their right to higher education impeded” thanks to ICE agents swarming the Twin Cities as part of Operation Metro Surge.

The Department of Homeland Security said it has arrested 3,000 Minnesotans in the last six weeks. The Star Tribune has not been able to confirm that figure.

This is a “nonviolent pause for reflection, conscience, and collective action,” the letter said. “We are engaging in different ways and standing publicly for constitutional rights, supporting community members and our workers during this moment.”

Wes Burdine, owner of the Black Hart of St. Paul, said he is closing the bar Friday but will pay his staff. He is also launching a social media campaign to call attention to the closings and the community being in “an unusual state right now, and it’s an emergency,” he said.

Burdine is planning two benefit shows at the Black Hart in coming weeks to support the “ICE Out” cause, he said.

“We’ve had people from around the world contributing to these funds, just in solidarity,” Burdine said. “People want to support people who are fighting back in Minnesota.”

Multiple business owners said shutting their doors will come at a cost.

“In talking with our staff and fellow owners, it wasn’t a hard decision,” she said, adding employees plan to attend a Friday demonstration in downtown Minneapolis. “We’ve got to show up for this.”

Mike Brown, co-owner of eight Twin Cities restaurants that make up the Travail Collective, said Friday’s shutdown will mean a loss of $100,000 that could hurt his struggling business. Joining the cause anyway was “the hardest decision” his team has ever had to make, he said.

Jane Shannon hosted a handful of other small-business owners Thursday morning at Bench Pressed, her letterpress studio and gift shop in Minneapolis’ Seward neighborhood. Closing the store Friday will cost thousands of dollars, so Shannon said it’s not a decision she took lightly.

“Because we are a white-owned business, we have that privilege to close,” Shannon said, adding she’s heard from other businesses, many with immigrant owners or employees, who are scared of retaliation. “We’re hoping to make a little bit of a stand, especially for the people that can’t.”

Bench Pressed will likely hire security, she added, after receiving threatening calls and emails following a local news appearance in support of the economic blackout.

“I’m losing money because of the stress of all of this,” she said. “We want to go back to our regular jobs.”

Lindsey Johnston, co-owner of Francis Burger Joint in Minneapolis, said she will close Friday. One of her kitchen managers, who is white, was recently pepper-sprayed, tackled and detained while observing ICE agents, she said.

“I don’t know how many more days I can stay in my restaurant, watching the street from open until close,” Johnston said. “The fuel in the tanks of the people who are doing this protection, it can only last for so long.”

At Oro by Nixta, chef and co-owner Gustavo Romero said after hearing from the staff they were taking it hour by hour as they decided whether to close.

“Everybody there, they were like, ‘I want to work. I need to work,’” Romero said. “Some people that are with us, they might be the only person working at their household.”

He looks at the restaurant as not just a business “but more like a cultural place, a cultural center where people like me can come and feel welcome,” Romero said. “We want to be a light.”