Business Owners Close Doors in Support of Minneapolis Anti-ICE Demonstration

MINNEAPOLIS — With temperatures forecast to plunge below zero through week’s end, Minneapolis residents and business owners are preparing for what organizers call an “ICE Out” day of protest scheduled for Friday. The demonstration calls for participants to abstain from work, school, and commerce, with several establishments planning to shutter their operations in solidarity.

“This is a bigger thing than the weather,” said Larry Weiss, a retired resident who patrols his neighborhood alongside his wife. He noted temperatures were expected to reach eight degrees below zero on Friday. “They are trying to break us and we are not going to be broken.”

The protest comes three weeks after the fatal shooting of 37-year-old U.S. citizen Renee Nicole Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, an incident that has galvanized opposition to federal immigration enforcement operations in the city.

Throughout Minneapolis, particularly near the University of Minnesota and in the LynLake area, signs of resistance are visible. Posters promoting the statewide action appear in business windows. Several establishments have posted notices stating that neither ICE nor Border Patrol agents are welcome without valid judicial warrants.

“Everyone is welcome here, except I.C.E.,” reads a sign posted at Wrecktangle Pizza.

Jeff Rogers, one of the pizza restaurant’s owners, confirmed his establishment would close Friday so staff could attend the protest. He described ICE’s presence as suffocating the city’s restaurant industry.

“It’s tearing our restaurant community apart,” Rogers said. “Everyone’s seen all the evidence of all this. It’s horrific and not something we condone.”

At Beckett’s, a nearby sports bar, management also planned to close. Frank, a manager who declined to provide his surname citing concerns for his co-workers, explained the human cost of heightened immigration enforcement.

“We have one of our head cooks who hasn’t come in for a month now because he’s afraid. We’re all just supporting him,” Frank said. “We also have other cooks that also are worried about it, but they need to pay their bills.”

Craig, a local businessman who requested anonymity for himself and his business over concerns about potential backlash, said he canceled all Friday appointments to support the protest. Most clients were supportive, he noted. One of his co-workers of Hmong descent has experienced significant ICE activity in his neighborhood.

“I don’t know how fearful he is, but I am fearful for him,” Craig said. He added that he has been locking his business door to provide a safe space for international students from the University of Minnesota. “They’ve maybe felt all week unsafe and they can come in here and maybe feel safe that maybe I’m a trusted person.”

The protest occurs against the backdrop of intensified federal immigration operations in the Minneapolis region. Earlier this week, Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Greg Bovino and Marcos Charles, ICE’s Executive Director of Enforcement and Removal Operations, announced at a news conference that authorities had arrested more than 3,000 individuals in the Minneapolis area since last month, describing those detained as including “some of the most dangerous offenders.”

That assertion has done little to quell the concerns of Minneapolis residents and business owners who see the enforcement actions as disrupting their community and creating an atmosphere of fear among immigrant populations, including those working in service industries essential to the city’s economy.

As Friday approaches, the question remains whether sub-zero temperatures will dampen turnout or whether Minneapolis residents will demonstrate that their commitment to this cause transcends physical discomfort.