Labour unions in Minnesota are stepping up pressure on some of the US's biggest companies over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations, calling for an economic blackout of no work, no shopping and no school on 23 January. The move follows the deaths of Renee Good, an unarmed woman killed by a federal immigration officer in Minneapolis, and Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a 37-year-old Veterans Affairs hospital ICU nurse and member of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE).
Bernie Burnham, president of the Minnesota AFL-CIO, said in a statement: "ICE continues to make everyone less safe, and Minnesota's Labour Movement repeats and amplifies our call for them to leave our state immediately." He added that the labour movement would "continue to actively support and stand in solidarity with every worker who has been unlawfully detained" and stand "shoulder to shoulder" with fellow Minnesotans "in the face of a hostile federal government."
Organisers of the Day of Truth & Freedom have targeted Target, Home Depot, Enterprise, Delta Airlines and Hilton, demanding they take a stand against ICE, cease economic activity with the agency, and ban the agency from entering work sites. Hundreds of Target workers signed a letter to the company's CEO and leaders criticising its silence on the ICE operations. Activist Sheletta Brundidge, who started a Target boycott with Nekima Levy Armstrong over the company's scrapping of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, said: "It's so sad to see Target so silent." She challenged the CEO to visit the site where Renee Good was killed and "see what is going on", adding: "Silence doesn't mean I don't know what to say. Silence says I don't give a damn."
Target's executives reportedly met with clergy in Minneapolis last week who protested in the company's lobby, and the company began distributing updated internal guidelines for staff on responding to "unannounced immigration-related contacts". Hilton has faced scrutiny after a Hampton Inn cancelled the reservation of ICE agents and was removed from its network, and the company backed the closure of a DoubleTree hotel and an Intercontinental hotel where ICE agents were staying in the Twin Cities region following reported bomb threats. Hilton's CEO, Chris Nassetta, said: "A safety and security issue is a different issue – it's closed to all."
A report by North Star Policy Action estimates the immigration enforcement operation is costing taxpayers at least $18m a week, while immigrant workers and business owners generate $41bn annually in economic output for Minnesota. A construction worker and member of Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en La Lucha, speaking anonymously for fear of retaliation over immigration status, said: "We want ICE out of Minnesota. In construction, they are causing harm and chaos. People can't work."
