ICE Protests Shut Minneapolis as 100 Clergy Are Arrested
Rabbi Alissa Wise joins other protesters at a Target on Friday in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
Police arrested roughly 100 clergy members on Friday at Minnesota’s largest airport during a demonstration against President Trump’s immigration enforcement policies. Officials said the protesters exceeded the boundaries of their permit as part of a coordinated mobilization across the state, according to the AP.
Labor unions, progressive groups, and religious organizations had called on Minnesotans to stay home from work, school, and stores for the day. Hundreds of businesses in the Twin Cities closed in response, the Washington Post reported. “This is what the world’s going to look like if you take our hardworking neighbors away,” said Ruth Kashmark, who temporarily closed her bar.
The clergy specifically protested Delta Airlines’ involvement in the deportation of immigrants, according to organizers cited by the AP. An airport spokesperson said arrests occurred outside the main terminal when demonstrators went beyond the terms of their permit and disrupted airline operations. While at the airport, protesters sang, prayed, and spoke about individuals detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), CBS News reported.
Bishop Dwayne Royster, leader of the progressive group Faith in Action, arrived from Washington, DC, on Wednesday. “We want ICE out of Minnesota,” he said. “We want them out of all the cities around the country where they’re exercising extreme overreach.”
In downtown Minneapolis, thousands marched despite subzero temperatures, waving American flags, chanting for ICE to leave, and carrying signs calling for the arrest of the agent who killed Renee Good on Jan. 7, NBC News reported. Organizers handed out hand warmers. “Today is the coldest day of the entire year in Minnesota, and we have the biggest protest to date happening. That has to say something,” one marcher said.
At the airport, Royster told the New York Times that the demonstrations reflect “deep resilience and willingness to stand together in ways I haven’t seen folks do in a very long time.”
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