...
By Sam Stevenson
Associate News Editor
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
Anti-ICE activists are calling for a nationwide shutdown on Friday, January 30, saying that the actions of federal agents in major U.S. cities are "tyranny, plain and simple."
Newsweek contacted the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) via email for comment.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin previously told Newsweek: "Attacks and demonization of ICE are wrong. ICE officers are now facing a 1,300 percent increase in assaults."
Read More on News
Why It Matters
Organizers say the shutdown will protest immigration enforcement tactics and the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by federal agents in Minneapolis, which have intensified scrutiny of ICE operations and prompted escalating demonstrations in the city and beyond.
...
What To Know
According to its official website, the National Shutdown campaign calls for "no work, no school, no shopping" on January 30, urging people to stop "funding ICE" and to demand "ICE out of everywhere," while citing the deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good as a catalyst for nationwide action.
Organization efforts for the action have also surfaced on community forums and social platforms, including posts in local subreddits encouraging "no work, no school, no shopping" that day.
One post on the r/SantaBarbaba subreddit forum reads: "Alex Pretti was a union brother. We are standing in solidarity because what’s happening right now is tyranny, plain and simple, and it has to stop.
"This is about dignity, accountability, and refusing to accept unchecked power as normal. January 30th. Nationwide shutdown. No work. No school. No shopping. Solidarity means action."
Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse, was shot and killed by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis on Saturday on Nicollet Avenue following a scuffle recorded on video, with the DHS asserting agents fired in self-defense. However, local officials and family are disputing that Pretti had brandished a gun.
In a separate high-profile incident earlier this month, Good, 37, was fatally shot by ICE agent Jonathan Ross in Minneapolis’s Cedar-Riverside area, prompting three consecutive nights of protests and national attention on the agency’s operations in the city.
Demonstrations in Minneapolis after Good's death included crowds converging on hotels amid reports or rumors that federal agents were staying there; protesters shattered windows, sprayed graffiti, and made sustained noise by banging on drums, pots, and pans outside properties linked to federal personnel.
Additional unrest of a similar nature followed Pretti’s killing, with videos showing demonstrators at a Home2 Suites by Hilton in Minneapolis, near the University of Minnesota, striking trash cans and bells, while state officials later said federal agents deployed chemical irritants during efforts to disperse the crowd, the Guardian and New York Post reported.
What People Are Saying
The National Shutdown website said: "The people of the Twin Cities have shown the way for the whole country–to stop ICE’s reign of terror, we need to SHUT IT DOWN. On Friday, January 30, join a nationwide day of no school, no work and no shopping.
"The entire country is shocked and outraged at the brutal killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good by federal agents. While Trump and other right-wing politicians are slandering them as 'terrorists', the video evidence makes it clear beyond all doubt: they were gunned down in broad daylight simply for exercising their First Amendment right to protest mass deportation.
"It is time for us to all stand up together in a nationwide shutdown and say enough is enough!"
President Donald Trump said his administration was "reviewing everything" after Pretti’s death, adding: "I don’t like any shooting."
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin previously told Newsweek: "Attacks and demonization of ICE are wrong. ICE officers are now facing a 1,300 percent increase in assaults."
"Illegal aliens that ICE is deporting broke our nation's laws. DHS is a law enforcement agency, and it will continue to carry out immigration enforcement for the safety of Americans who have been victimized by rapists, murderers, drug traffickers, and gang members.
"President Trump campaigned on immigration enforcement, the American people voted for it, and Secretary Noem is delivering.
"For illegal aliens in the country, the safest and most efficient option is self-deportation. Through the CBP Home app, illegal aliens can self-deport and receive financial and travel assistance. President Trump and Secretary Noem have a clear message to illegal aliens: LEAVE NOW."
What Happens Next
Organizers say they will proceed with the January 30 shutdown, encouraging participants nationwide to abstain from work, school, and commerce to protest immigration enforcement and the recent shootings.
At Monday’s briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the DHS and the FBI were examining the Pretti shooting, while U.S. Customs and Border Protection is carrying out its own internal review.
She added that, as Trump noted the day before, the administration is "reviewing everything" related to the incident and will allow the investigative process to run its course, without offering further details.
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines