Ramstad: Telling people to avoid Minnesota businesses doesn’t hurt ICE

Union and activist group leaders stirred a kerfuffle this week by pressing Twin Cities business owners to go along with an “economic blackout” on Friday to protest the ongoing crackdown by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents around the state.

Trying to do right in the face of wrong, these organizations are creating unnecessary risk for people on their side.

First, the actions of ICE are beyond outrageous. Its agents have shot two Minnesotans this month, killing one, and assaulted and abused hundreds of others in the course of making 3,000 arrests. And they have done so in service of portrayals about undocumented immigrants in Minnesota that are distorted or outright wrong.

Second, Friday looks like it will be the coldest day of winter so far; people will hunker down and an economic shutdown will have little effect.

So why harp over an event — dubbed the ICE Out of Minnesota Day of Truth & Freedom (iceoutnowmn.com) — started by some faith leaders with the good intent of creating unity through sacrifice?

Because at a moment when the federal government is striving to inflict pain on Minnesota, this event asked Minnesotans to inflict pain on themselves.

Instead of an “economic blackout,” activists and unions could have created an event urging Minnesotans to use — not avoid — businesses that rely on immigrants.

But they created a heads-you-win-tails-I-lose situation for business owners. Those with relatively less to lose by criticizing ICE or President Donald Trump will participate by closing on Friday. Those with more at risk will stay open and, in the process, will have outed their risk.

Everyone has something to lose, of course. The Department of Homeland Security this week went after tiny Mischief Toy Store in St. Paul, which has filed suit over Trump’s tariffs and handed out free whistles to people who want to follow ICE agents around.

Meanwhile, parents in St. Paul are wondering what Friday will bring. Teachers’ unions in Minneapolis and St. Paul are key backers of Friday’s events. Minneapolis and some suburban schools had a preplanned day off on Friday anyway, but St. Paul schools, along with several other metro districts, are supposed to be open. Teachers must choose whether to step away from kids, many from immigrant families, at a time when school offers a stable place in their lives.

The owner of a Minneapolis restaurant who asked not to be identified told me she decided to stay open on Friday because she was afraid that closing would lead ICE to target her business and employees. She told me she would donate Friday’s profits to groups helping immigrants. One reason she asked me not to use her name is because she didn’t want to upset the unions and be criticized by them.

“We’ve heard the sentiment,” said Luis Argueta, communications director Unidos MN, one of the organizing groups for Friday’s events. “Sometimes these campaigns are formed over months or a year. This is something that was very fast, so 1,000% the rollout could have been better.”

“We’ve been able to pivot and refine,” Argueta said. “It’s been a really good opportunity to be able to have conversations with businesses. I think everyone wants ICE out of Minnesota.”

To be sure, there are also small businesses that have been ICE targets joining the economic blackout. Several owners of shops at Karmel Mall, the Somali shopping center on Lake Street in Minneapolis, met reporters on Wednesday afternoon to explain why they believed that closing down on Friday brings attention to their difficulties.

Thousands of Minnesotans, including people of color who are not immigrants, feel endangered at the moment. ICE agents have demonstrated why that fear is valid by taking people off the street, schools and stores, stuffing them into SUVs and hauling them away until they prove citizenship. Organizers say the economic blackout day is a way for other Minnesotans to express solidarity with them.

“We are choosing to close in protest of the ongoing immigration operations happening in our community,” the owners of Bogart’s Doughnuts wrote on social media Tuesday. “This is a day for us to stand together in support of dignity, safety and human rights of all people.”

The campaign is also designed to put pressure on larger companies to publicly challenge Trump and ICE. Target, Home Depot, Enterprise, Hilton and Delta are singled out on the organizers’ homepage.

Which is happening with every ICE action — and every passing day.