Tens of thousands of workers, students, and community members walked off jobs and out of classrooms Jan. 30 in a coordinated National Shutdown demanding the removal of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from local communities.
Organizers called for “no work, no school, no shopping,” as a direct response to federal immigration raids that have escalated into shootings, mass detention, and neighborhood occupations.
The protests were ignited by a series of cold-blooded assassinations by federal paramilitary troopers.
- Alex Pretti: An intensive care nurse in Minneapolis, executed by Border Patrol agents while filming their operations with his phone.
- Renee Good: A mother of three and member of the LGBTQIA+ community, shot dead on Jan. 7 by ICE officer Jonathan Ross. Rep. Ilhan Omar said Good was acting as a legal observer.
- Silverio Villegas González: A father shot and killed by ICE during a September traffic stop outside Chicago after dropping his children at school.
- Keith Porter Jr.: A Black father of two, shot by an ICE agent on New Year’s Eve in Los Angeles.
- Six unnamed individuals: According to a database published by the American Prospect, at least six other people have been killed by ICE or DHS agents since the current administration began its second term.
Plus
- Record fatalities in detention: 2025 marked the agency’s deadliest year in two decades with 32 confirmed deaths in custody — a figure that has already been compounded by at least six more deaths in the first two weeks of 2026.
These are not “isolated incidents”; they are the inevitable result of a militarized federal force deployed to crush dissent and terrorize the community.
Protest actions stretched from the Northeast through the Midwest and South, and across the West from Colorado to California, as students walked out, workers withheld labor, and communities mobilized outside federal buildings and detention centers.
In the Twin Cities, tens of thousands rallied despite subzero wind chills, converging on the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, which houses an immigration court and other federal offices. Protesters demanded resignations from Department of Homeland Security officials and an immediate halt to ICE operations.
Students played a central role across the country. Groups from walkouts at more than 30 high schools gathered at the state capital in Phoenix, Arizona. Classes were canceled at more than 20 schools in Tucson after staff took leave in solidarity. Hundreds of high school students walked out in Asheville, North Carolina, while students in suburban Birmingham, Michigan, marched in below-freezing temperatures.
Campus actions were reported at Brown University, the University of Florida, and multiple colleges across Georgia. Educators said ICE raids and surveillance are destabilizing classrooms by separating families and placing students under constant threat.
In Los Angeles, thousands marched to a federal detention center. Federal agents later deployed tear gas and chemical sprays against protesters who remained after nightfall.
In Nebraska the day before, a student outside Fremont High School was hospitalized after being struck by an SUV flying a Trump flag. Video circulating online shows the vehicle accelerating into demonstrators.
“This isn’t about immigration policy in the abstract,” said one Minneapolis organizer. “It’s about armed federal agents occupying working-class neighborhoods.”
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