Tag: Pro-immigrant protests

Minnesota Resistance to ICE Siege: Lessons for Labor

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Among the many important lessons that can be taken from the Minnesota resistance to ICE is the role that organized labor can play in struggles for social justice. Unions from the Minnesota Education Federation to the Service Employees International Union to the Amalgamated Transit Union helped organize some of the multitude of protest actions in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Not only did their participation help broaden the fight, but it is also proving to have strengthened the labor movement and individual unions. One example is outlined in this article by Minneapolis letter carrier Emmett Bongaarts, first published by Labor Notes. His branch of the National Association of Letter Carriers organized two protests during the ICE siege to demand that ICE stop using postal property to stage its raids; individual members of the local also participated in activities to help defend their immigrant neighbors. Organizing around immigration spurred a number of union members to start attending local meetings for the first time.

Minnesotans Keep the Heat on Despite ICE ‘Drawdown’

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MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota, February 19, 2026 — After nearly three months, the largest anti-immigrant operation in U.S. history has officially “ended” — beaten back by a massive, sustained, and well-organized resistance involving hundreds of thousands throughout the state of Minnesota and across the country. The fight for immigrant rights is at the center of turning the tide, of winning workers to the understanding that “an injury to one is an injury to all.” Convincing rank-and-file workers to take up the campaign for legalization of their immigrant brothers and sisters is part of pulling together the forces needed to fight for better working conditions and democratic rights for all. The success of the fight in Minnesota, which has drawn tens of thousands of working people, youth, and others into action — many of them for the very first time, is an example of where we need to begin.

Students Protesting ICE Stand Up to Disciplinary Actions

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High school students have continued grassroots initiatives to organize walkouts and protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) since their first nationwide protests on January 30. At the same time, school authorities, state and local politicians, and police are trying to intimidate these teenagers and their supporters with threats of investigations, suspensions, and even criminal charges. Student protesters are seeking to make use of legal precedents to defend their right to freedom of speech in face of such threats.

How Minnesota School District Defended Students from ICE

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This article illustrates a good example of the widespread popular resistance to the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant crackdown in Minneapolis, its suburbs, and across Minnesota over the last two months. A resistance that forced the federal government to back down and announce on February 12 it is ending its “Operation Metro Surge” by beginning to withdraw most of the 3,000 ICE and Border Patrol agents it unleashed against the state’s working people.

Bad Bunny Joins Pro-Immigrant Protests

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“Before I say thanks to God, I’m gonna say: ICE out!” proclaimed Bad Bunny on February 1, while accepting the Grammy award for best urban music album. Bad Bunny, one of the most well-known and awarded U.S. musicians today, repeated his pro-immigrant message a week later at the Super Bowl halftime show, without making an explicit anti-ICE statement, as in the Grammys. This time the musician delivered his message with a performance seen by millions as a pro-worker celebration of an America encompassing everyone from Alaska and Canada to the U.S. mainland, the Caribbean, and the entire central and southern parts of the continent. A feature of the halftime show — with more than 135 million people tuned in — were explicit expressions of Puerto Rican pride.

Houston High School Students Protest ICE, Defy Attempts to Restrict Free Speech

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On Friday, February 6, 2026, students at Bellaire High School in Houston, Texas, walked out as part of a coordinated regional effort involving several area schools to protest operations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) amid fears that its agents will be allowed onto school property to detain students and their families. The widespread high-school student walkouts on January 30 are now being followed by new and similar grassroots initiatives at schools around the country. At the same time, Texas governor Greg Abbott and other local authorities and school districts are threatening suspensions and even criminal charges against students and teachers accused of exercising such freedom of speech and assembly. 

‘Education, Not Deportation!’

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On January 30, 2026, youth at a number of Seattle, Washington, high schools staged walkouts to protest the nationwide federal immigration crackdown, joining a call for action with students in other U.S. cities. The walkouts continued on February 2 at two more King County schools. Growing numbers of actions by high school students follow the example set by young people in Minnesota, which has been ground zero in the fight against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in recent weeks. “The heart of the message is to express our need for justice,” said Ria de Looze, an organizer of one of several Minneapolis walkouts following the murder of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent on January 7. “Youth voices are so often overlooked, and this is one of our few ways to organize youth in such a powerful way. We really wanted to get the message out and inspire people to keep up the work.”

High School Students Walk Out Across U.S., Denounce ICE Terror

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SAN FRANCISCO, California, January 30, 2026 — Large mobilizations took part today across the United States. Demonstrators denounced the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant crackdown and demanded justice for the two U.S. citizens — Renee Good and Alex Pretti — murdered in cold blood by federal agents in Minneapolis, Minnesota, earlier this month while documenting operations by Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) thugs. Walkouts and marches and rallies by high school students across the country were a feature of the protests.

Minneapolis Fight Against ICE Inspires Mexican Ballads

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Mexican corridos are a narrative genre of music rooted in the 19th century that served as a “newspaper” for the oppressed. Beginning with the Mexican War of Independence (1810-1821) and later becoming immensely popular during the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920), corridos recounted tales of heroes and the struggles of everyday life. A number of Mexican songwriters are now turning to this tradition to honor Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good, both murdered this month in Minneapolis, Minnesota, by U.S. Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

Billy Bragg Releases Anti-ICE Protest Song ‘City of Heroes’

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“The murder of Alex Pretti was horrifically shocking, all the more so as we are still reeling from the images of the murder of Renee Good. That these crimes can be committed in broad daylight, on camera and yet no one is held accountable only adds to the injustice,” said Billy Bragg, the renowned English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and working-class activist, also known as the “Bard of Barking,” while releasing his new song “City of Heroes” on January 28, 2026.

Bruce Springsteen Releases Anti-ICE Protest Song ‘Streets of Minneapolis’

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On January 28, 2026, Bruce Springsteen, also known as The Boss, released “Streets of Minneapolis.” His new song is part of a protest movement across the United States demanding an end to the terror unleashed by the Trump administration through its Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol thugs against undocumented immigrants and all working people.

ICE Murders 2nd Minneapolis Volunteer Observer in Cold Blood

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MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota, January 25, 2026 — Tens of thousands of protesters, as many as 50,000 by some estimates, marched through the streets of this city on January 23. It was a historic day of peaceful, often buoyant show of resistance against the federal government’s crackdown on immigrant workers and efforts to intimidate anyone protesting this terroristic invasion across the state. The promise of a calm Saturday disappeared shortly after 9 a.m. the next morning, January 24. That is when half a dozen Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol agents held down Alex Pretti and pumped 10 bullets into his body, killing him in cold blood.

‘ICE Out!’ No Work, School, or Shopping on Jan. 23 in Minnesota

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Minnesotans will again take to the streets on Friday, January 23, in downtown Minneapolis to demand “ICE Out!” A coalition of labor and community groups has called a Day of Truth & Freedom, asking everyone to skip work, school, or shopping and instead march for an end to the Trump administration’s brutal anti-immigrant crackdown. It is a call that deserves support from all working people, youth, and everyone who cares about democratic rights.

Protests Erupt Against ICE Killing in Minnesota

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MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota, January 12, 2026 — Two days ago, tens of thousands of people, according to unofficial police estimates, took to the streets here to protest the killing in cold blood of a legal observer by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent. It was the latest of angry protests that have erupted in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul. At least three other actions took place in the area also on January 10.
Three days earlier, on January 7, Renee Nicole Good was gunned down by ICE agent John F. Ross. She was observing and documenting a federal immigration operation in Minneapolis. Good was shot while attempting to drive away from the scene. Within hours, thousands of people gathered in the residential neighborhood near the site of the shooting to demand accountability and justice. Protests have been ongoing since. They show no sign of subsiding.

Fishermen, Wives Help Lead Protests Against Building ICE Detention Center on Oregon Coast

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HILLSBORO, Oregon, December 20, 2025 — For two months Oregon coastal residents, led in part by fishermen and their wives, have been fighting an attempt by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to build an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility at an airport in the town of Newport. So far, the fight has had some successes, but it is far from over.

Resistance to Mass Deportations Spreads to Appalachia, Southeast

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This article reports on resistance to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in working-class neighborhoods and rural areas in the Appalachia. This includes Boone, North Carolina, “a small, southern, white, mountain town,” as one student described it to The Appalachian. These protests build on what residents accomplished in Charlotte, North Carolina’s largest city, in mid-November, and earlier in Chicago.

Chicago Activists Organize to Counter Gov’t Anti-Immigrant Crackdown

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This is an eyewitness report on a Community Defense Workshop held in Chicago on October 4, 2025. The brief account is all the more important in light of preparations by the Trump administration to deploy National Guard troops to Chicago. It provides an example of the kind of resistance necessary to counter the Trump administration’s anti-working-class crackdown, which is compounded by an onslaught on democratic rights.

Chicago Unions, Community Groups Fight ICE Raids, Nat’l Guard Deployment Threats

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This article documents the wave of protests in Chicago and its suburbs in September 2025 opposing stepped-up immigration raids and deportations and the Trump administration’s threats to deploy National Guard troops in this city. The protests, led by trade unions and community groups, prompted the White House to step back from deploying military forces here, at least for now.

An Injury to One Is an Injury to All: Let Kilmar Abrego García Go Home!

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On August 22, 2025, Kilmar Abrego García, a sheet metal apprentice and member of International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART) Local 100, went home to his family in Maryland. The immigrant worker was released after months of incarceration, much of that in a notoriously brutal prison in El Salvador where he had been deported by the Department of Homeland Security without his constitutionally guaranteed right to due process. Three days later, ICE arrested Abrego García once again, and the government is trying to deport him to Uganda. This article describes the significance of the defense case of this immigrant worker for the labor movement and the entire working class.

Los Angeles: Thousands Denounce ICE Raids in July 4 Protest

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This article describes a pro-immigrant protest in Los Angeles on July 4. It was a fitting way to mark U.S. Independence Day, given the Trump administration’s intensified workplace raids and deportations of undocumented immigrants. L.A. has been the epicenter of many such protests over the last month since the White House picked the city to launch its aggressive dragnet, carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, targeting millions of workers across the country.

After Social Explosion in L.A., Millions Protest Workplace Raids, Deportations & Attacks on Democratic Rights

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On June 14, U.S. president Donald Trump watched over a military parade in Washington, D.C. The lackluster spectacle was designed to celebrate Trump’s birthday, which coincided with the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army, and thus advance the process of establishing one-man rule in the United States. The same day, over 5 million people took part in “No Kings” rallies and marches across the country. These registered the growing opposition to intensifying workplace raids by heavily armed federal agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and to the danger that these — and other actions by the White House — pose to due process, civil liberties, and democratic rights. These protests followed a weeklong social explosion in Los Angeles in response to a spike of ICE raids.

End Immigration Raids! Free David Huerta! Join June 9 Rallies

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On Friday afternoon [June 5, 2025], military-gear-clad ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] agents launched aggressive raids throughout Los Angeles. At one location, SEIU-USWW President David Huerta was assaulted, injured and detained while advocating for immigrant workers. While he has been released from the hospital, he remains in federal custody. Since then, the Trump administration has only escalated its attacks on the Los Angeles community, deploying the military against our own people. This is a clear attack on our communities, workers and our First Amendment rights. Demand that David Huerta be freed and ICE raids end immediately. The SEIU-USSW is organizing rapid-response rallies around the country [on Monday, June 9] to show that we stand with him and all workers targeted by ICE. There are already rallies popping up. Check to see if there’s one near you or organize your own! seiu.co/FreeDavid