Thousands go on strike in Minneapolis as Trump's ICE agents surge into city
Minneapolis and St Paul have seen daily protests since Renee Good was shot dead by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer on January 7
People in Minnesota are boycotting work, school and shops to protest against immigration enforcement officers in the state.
Listen to this article
Minneapolis and St Paul have seen daily protests since Renee Good was shot dead by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer on January 7.
Federal law enforcement officers have surged in the Twin Cities for weeks and have repeatedly squared off with community members and activists who track their movements.
Organisers said on Friday morning that more than 700 businesses across the state have closed for the day in solidarity with the protest - from a book shop in tiny Grand Marais near the Canadian border to the landmark Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis city centre.
"We're achieving something historic," said Kate Havelin of Indivisible Twin Cities, one of the more than 100 groups that are mobilising.
Read more: Trump to sue New York Times over negative opinion poll
On Thursday, a prominent civil rights lawyer and at least two other people were arrested for their involvement in an anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted a Sunday service at a church in St Paul. They remained in federal custody on Friday morning.
US vice president JD Vance, meanwhile, visited Minneapolis to meet with ICE officials and address reporters. He encouraged protesters to remain peaceful and urged city and state officials to co-operate with federal forces to ease the fraught situation in Minneapolis.
Organisers hope Friday's mobilisation will be the largest co-ordinated protest action to date, with a march in Minneapolis planned for Friday afternoon.
The National Weather Service warned of dangerously cold weather, and early on Friday, the temperature in Minneapolis was minus 29C with a wind chill of minus 40C.
Ms Havelin compared the presence of immigration officers to the winter weather warnings.
"Minnesotans understand that when we're in a snow emergency ... we all have to respond and it makes us do things differently," she said. "And what's happening with ICE in our community, in our state, means that we can't respond as business as usual."
Somali businesses especially have lost sales during the enforcement surge as workers and customers, fearing detention, stay at home.
Many schools were planning to close on Friday, but cited different reasons. The University of Minnesota and the St Paul public school district said there would be no in-person classes because of the extreme cold.
Minneapolis Public Schools were scheduled to be closed "for a teacher record keeping day".
Clergy planned to join the march as well as hold prayer services and fasting, according to a delegation of representatives of faith traditions including Buddhist, Jewish, Lutheran and Muslim.
Bishop Dwayne Royster, leader of the progressive organisation Faith in Action, arrived in Minnesota on Wednesday from Washington DC.
"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."
Mr Royster said at least 50 of his network's faith-based organisers were joining the protest. About 10 were travelling from Los Angeles while others from the same group planned a solidarity rally in California, said one of the organisers there.