Hundreds of actions are set to take place across the United States on 30 and 31 January as grassroots organisers protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) violence. The demonstrations come after the deaths of at least eight people in connection with ICE since the start of the year, including the high-profile killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.
On Friday, student groups led by the Somali Student Association, Black Student Union and Graduate Labor Union at the University of Minnesota are calling for a “national shutdown” described as a general strike. Organisers are urging people to avoid work, school and shopping to “stop funding ICE”. The walkouts aim to build on last weekend’s mass mobilisation in Minneapolis, where hundreds of businesses closed and thousands protested a local immigration enforcement surge.
Saturday will see the “ICE Out of Everywhere National Day of Action” organised by the grassroots group 50501, with protests, demonstrations and vigils planned in all 50 states and Washington DC. The group is calling for protests at ICE detention facilities, field offices and airports targeting airlines that transport ICE detainees, as well as at the offices of members of Congress who support ICE.
“We are responding to people’s outrage,” said Gloriann Sahay, a national coordinator with 50501, noting a shift in public opinion. Polling from YouGov this week shows increased opposition to ICE, with more Americans now supporting than opposing its abolition. Among the cases cited by activists are the ICE killing of 43-year-old Keith Porter Jr in Los Angeles and the detention of five-year-old Liam Ramos in Minnesota.
Organisers are tracking votes related to immigration enforcement and plan to challenge Democratic lawmakers they describe as “pro-ICE”, including Representatives Henry Cuellar, Vicente Gonzalez, Don Davis, Laura Gillen, Tom Suozzi, Jared Golden and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez. They are calling on Congress to block Department of Homeland Security funding until ICE is dismantled and to pass legislation ending federal cooperation with local authorities.
