Labor unions, community leaders and faith groups are calling for an economic blackout in Minnesota on Friday to protest the surge of federal immigration agents in the state and mourn Renee Good.

Organizers are urging Minnesotans not to work, shop or go to school. The Trump administration has dispatched some 3,000 federal agents to the state, in what it claims amounts to its largest enforcement operation thus far, amid a broader crackdown on immigration.

More than 2,400 people in Minnesota have been arrested in recent weeks. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer fatally shot Good, 37, in Minneapolis earlier this month.

“There is an unprecedented and outrageous attack being waged against the people of Minnesota. I have never seen anything like it in my life,” said Kieran Knutson, the president of Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 7250 in Minneapolis. “This is just an outrageous acceleration and escalation of violence toward working-class people.”

The CWA, which represents workers in the state at companies including AT&T, Activision and DirecTV, is one of several local unions organizing and supporting the planned economic blackout.

Others include Unite Here Local 17, Saint Paul Federation of Educators and Minneapolis Federation of Educators Local 59.

Chelsie Glaubitz Gabiou, the president of the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, said: “Working people, our schools and our communities are under attack. Union members are being detained commuting to and from work, tearing apart families. Parents are being forced to stay home, students held out of school, fearing for their lives, all while the employer class remains silent.”

“I think what generated the idea for this action comes out of the need to figure out what we can meaningfully do to stop it,” said Knutson. “The government in the state of Minnesota has not offered any path towards stopping these attacks, this violence.”

Knutson expressed hope that “the CEOs of all these corporations that are based in Minnesota take notice”.

Large US corporations headquartered in Minnesota include Target, Best Buy, United Healthcare and General Mills. None immediately returned requests for comment.

As the administration continues to send ICE agents to the Minnesota region, Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey has complained in recent days that the city’s police are outmanned and outgunned.

“Can our cops arrest them? From a legal perspective, yes,” he said during an interview on the Bulwark podcast. “From a practical perspective, to state the reality, it does get kind of hard when they drastically outnumber us, and they have bigger guns than we do. We don’t want to create warfare in the street.”

A blackout by workers can send a message, Knutson said. “Those of us in the trade union movement understand the leverage and power that our labor has, and we are going to try and use that, because really there’s nothing else left,” he told the Guardian. “The idea is that we use our collective power to show those that rule this country and those that profit off of our labor that there’s a cost to attacking our communities this way.”

Organizers held a press conference last Tuesday, outside of the Hennepin county government center in Minneapolis, to announce that the event, which will also include a march and rally in the city’s downtown at 2pm local time.

“On Friday, January 23, we are calling for a day of truth and freedom,” said JaNaé Bates Imari, a minister and co-executive director of the multi-faith non-profit Isaiah. “It is a day where every single Minnesotan who loves this state and this notion of truth and freedom will refuse to work, to shop, and to go to school. What we have experienced and are experiencing in the state of Minnesota is not normal.”

The White House did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the planned economic blackout.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said: “The fact that those groups want to shut down Minnesota’s economy, which provides law-abiding American citizens an honest living, to fight for illegal alien murderers, rapists, gang members, pedophiles, drug dealers, and terrorists says everything you need to know.”

The spokesperson reiterated the administration’s claim that Good “weaponized” her car before the shooting. This account of the incident has been disputed by local and state leaders in Minnesota, as well as by eyewitnesses. Video footage of the shooting appears to show Good’s vehicle turning away from the officer as he opened fire.

The DHS spokesperson added that “if these community and faith leaders wanted to take a stand for the vulnerable”, they would stand with federal law enforcement officers, whom the spokesperson claimed have faced a sharp increase in assaults and vehicle attacks. They did not provide evidence for this allegation.

“These men and women are moms and dads who risk their lives on a daily basis to protect innocent, law-abiding Americans from the dangerous criminal illegal aliens in their communities,” the spokesperson added.

Under the Trump administration, thousands of people targeted by ICE have no criminal record, and numerous US citizens have also been detained.

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Today’s top stories

Up to 1,500 active-duty troops in Alaska are on standby for possible deployment to Minnesota, a U.S. official informed NPR. This comes as the Trump administration has escalated pressure on the state, including threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act to suppress protests happening in Minneapolis. Anti-ICE protesters continued to take to the streets over the weekend, even as temperatures plummeted.

• 🎧 Democrats can’t do much to push back on the Trump administration, besides publicly denouncing the presence of over 2,000 federal immigration agents in the state, Minnesota Public Radio’s Clay Masters tells Up First. Attorney General Keith Ellison and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul sued the administration, calling its actions an unconstitutional federal invasion that violates the First and 10th amendments. Because Democrats do not control either chamber of Congress, they are pursuing legal channels in federal courts.

President Trump escalated tensions across Europe over the weekend with comments about the U.S. acquiring Greenland. He says the United States needs the territory for national security. On Saturday, he announced plans to impose a tariff on eight NATO allies until there is a deal for the U.S. to purchase Greenland. On Sunday, those eight nations convened an emergency meeting and warned that Trump’s tariffs threaten a “dangerous downward spiral” for transatlantic relations.

• 🎧 Lawmakers said multiple times this weekend that they haven’t received any intelligence about an imminent threat to Greenland from Russia or China. Regarding U.S. national security, they point out that the Kingdom of Denmark and the U.S. already cooperate, and the U.S. already maintains a military presence in Greenland. NPR’s Barbara Sprunt says on Saturday, thousands of people marched peacefully and passionately to the U.S. Embassy in Denmark. She says she saw many Greenland flags and red hats that said “Make America Go Away.”

Trump’s board of peace for Gaza, advertised as a way to aid the region’s reconstruction, now appears more expansive and expensive than initially stated. The president would serve as the board’s chairman, with representatives from other nations. A copy of its charter, obtained by NPR, shows that the board claims power beyond Gaza. Trump has also asked other nations to pay at least $1 billion for the privilege of permanent representation.

• 🎧 The charter excludes the word “Gaza,” and instead appears to be a proposal for a rival United Nations Security Council that would handle world conflicts, says NPR’s Daniel Estrin. The charter’s language expresses a need for a more effective international peace building body, Estrin says. Critics argue that the president is trying to undermine the U.N. to make diplomacy transactional. Israel objects to Trump appointing representatives of Turkey and Qatar to be part of the leadership group because it sees those nations as primary Hamas backers. However, Israel acknowledges that it cannot block the move, and leaders there are skeptical that any international body can get Hamas to disarm.

Life advice

Introverts and extroverts can be good friends even though they move through the world differently. Their friendship suffers, however, when their differences clash, says Jennifer Kahnweiler, author of The Introverted Leader. She says the key is to speak up before the resentments pile up. Kahnweiler shares tips with Life Kit on how both personalities can foster deep connections despite differences.

• 👭 Don’t pigeonhole a person as just an introvert or extrovert. Where they fall within that spectrum isn’t static.
• 👭If a friend’s behavior is bugging you, consider if a personality difference might be behind it. Then, show them a little grace.
• 👭 Create a code phrase or gesture to signal what you both need, such as a hand signal to remind your friend not to fill the silence.

For more guidance on how introverts and extroverts can be better friends, listen to this episode of NPR’s Life Kit. Subscribe to the Life Kit newsletter for expert advice on love, money, relationships and more.

Today’s listen

The Trump administration recently removed Martin Luther King Jr. Day from the list of free entry days at national parks. Dr. King’s image has also been used in racist AI-generated videos. For MLK day, Code Switch sat down with historian Nicholas Buccola, author of One Man’s Freedom, to re-examine the concept of “freedom” by comparing the legacies of King and conservative politician Barry Goldwater. Buccola reveals the gulf between Goldwater’s abstract view of freedom and King’s focus on daily dignity and liberty, showing what this historical battle teaches us about freedom today. Listen to the episode here or read the transcript.

3 things to know before you go

Artemis II will send a crew of four astronauts on a journey around the moon as the United States prepares to send American astronauts to the moon for the first time in more than five decades.

Derek Demeter/Central Florida Public Media

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1. NASA’s spacecraft for its Artemis II mission reached its Kennedy Space Center launch pad Saturday evening. The program aims to send Americans to the moon for the first time in more than 50 years.
2. Rare snow blanketed Florida for the second year in a row yesterday, as freezing temperatures continue to grip the state into early this week.
3. Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has won the presidential elections, extending his 40-year rule. The vote happened under a government-imposed internet blackout.

This newsletter was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.