Anti-ICE protests to be held across US as organizers urge national strike

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Source: The Guardian

Fri 30 Jan 2026 06.00 EST
Last modified on Fri 30 Jan 2026 06.02 EST


Activists are calling for a nationwide shutdown on Friday, advocating “no work, no school, no shopping” in a protest against the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration crackdowns.

Organizers say Friday’s “blackout” – or general strike, as some are calling it – is part of a growing non-violent movement to combat ICE’s aggressive enforcement tactics, which have come under renewed scrutiny following a series of fatal shootings involving federal agents.

Those deaths include Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, Keith Porter in Los Angeles, and Silverio Villegas González in Illinois. Friday’s national protest leaders, many of them students at the University of Minnesota, are calling for ICE to leave the city after its nearly month-long operation. They say economic pressure through work stoppages and consumer boycotts is just one way to demand accountability and reform.

“We are calling for this strike because we believe what we have been doing in Minnesota should go national,” said Kidus Yeshidagna, president of the Ethiopian Students Union at the University of Minnesota and one of the students organizing the strike. “We need more people and lawmakers across the country to wake up.”

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/30/ice-protests-friday-strike