Some of the US’s biggest companies are coming under increasing pressure to speak out about the Trump administration’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)’s operations in Minnesota.
Workers throughout Minnesota have been pressuring their employers to act following the death of Renee Good, an unarmed woman killed by a federal immigration officer in Minneapolis earlier this month.
The killing on Saturday of Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a 37-year-old Veterans Affairs Hospital ICU Nurse and member of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), intensified those calls from labor unions against ICE.
“ICE continues to make everyone less safe, and Minnesota’s Labor Movement repeats and amplifies our call for them to leave our state immediately,” said Bernie Burnham, Minnesota AFL-CIO President, in a statement. “Minnesota’s Labor Movement will continue to actively support and stand in solidarity with every worker who has been unlawfully detained. We stand shoulder to shoulder with our fellow Minnesotans in the face of a hostile federal government.”
On Friday, labor unions, community leaders, and faith leaders organized a Day of Truth & Freedom, calling for an economic blackout of no work, no shopping and no school.
Organizers of the Day of Truth & Freedom have been targeting large corporations in demanding they take stands against ICE, including ceasing economic activity with the agency, and banning the agency from entering work sites.
Target, Home Depot, Enterprise, Delta Airlines and Hilton were targeted with actions leading up to the 23 January economic blackout. Hundreds of Target workers signed onto a letter addressed to the company’s CEO and other leaders criticizing the company’s silence on the ICE operations in Minnesota. None of the companies responded to multiple requests for comment.
“It’s so sad to see Target so silent,” said Sheletta Brundidge, an activist and organizer in Minneapolis who started a Target boycott with activist Nekima Levy Armstrong against the company rescinding their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Levy Armstrong was recently detained by the FBI for an anti-ICE protest at a Minnesota church. Brundidge previously worked with Target.
“That Target CEO should be out at the street talking to people. He should be part of the protesting. He should make sure that the neighbors to his company’s headquarters are taken care of. Has he gone out to the site where Renee Good was killed and dropped off water or hand warmers? Have they done anything for her children? Has he stepped out of that ivory tower to look around and see what is going on?” added Brundidge.
“There was a protest that marched right in front of his headquarters on Saturday. They didn’t even mention it, they are silent, and silence says something. Silence doesn’t mean I don’t know what to say. Silence says I don’t give a damn. I don’t care about the people that shop here. I don’t care about the people who work here. I don’t care about the people in this community. I don’t care. Keep spending your money.”
Target’s executives reportedly met with clergy in Minneapolis last week who protested in the company’s lobby. The Wall Street Journal reported the company began distributing internally updated guidelines for how staff should respond to “unannounced immigration-related contacts”.
Hilton has faced scrutiny after a Hampton Inn in its network of hotels cancelled the reservation of ICE agents and Hilton removed it from its network earlier this month. But this past week, Hilton backed a decision to close a DoubleTree hotel and an Intercontinental hotel where ICE agents were staying in the Twin Cities region following reported bomb threats.
“A safety and security issue is a different issue—it’s closed to all,” said Hilton’s CEO, Chris Nassetta.
A recent report by North Star Policy Action estimates the immigration enforcement operation is costing taxpayers at least $18m per week. Immigrant workers and business owners generate $41bn annually in economic output for Minnesota.
“We want ICE out of Minnesota. In construction, they are causing harm and chaos. People can’t work,” said a construction worker in Minnesota, a member of Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en La Lucha (CTUL), who requested to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation to their immigration status.
The worker and several of his co-workers and allies delivered a petition to the largest US house developer by volume, DR Horton, at their regional office in Lakeville, Minnesota, on 21 January.
They are demanding the developer prevent ICE from entering job sites without a valid warrant and to demand an end to the ICE violence and raids. The worker said no one came to speak with the group, but the police were called to ask the group to leave, which they did peacefully.
“The police said we need to leave because it is private property, and a few community members pointed out that this is precisely what we are asking of DR Horton – to not allow ICE on their private job sites without a signed and valid judicial warrant,” said Jac Kovarik, the communications coordinator for CTUL, in a statement on the action.
DR Horton did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
“Me and my coworkers haven’t been working for a month now,” added the worker. “ICE agents are going to construction sites, they’re circling around, apprehending people, assaulting people without a warrant.”
He noted his church has been providing food and helping to cover rent for him and his co-workers as ICE’s operations have halted construction projects for the contractor where he works.
A spokesperson for the US Department of Homeland Security called the actions of labor unions and workers “beyond insane. Why would these labor bosses not want these public safety threats out of their communities?”
They added, “these are the criminals these labor bosses are trying to protect,” citing 23 unnamed photos of claimed undocumented immigrants arrested in Minnesota with criminal records.
Under the Trump administration, thousands of people targeted by ICE have no criminal record, and numerous US citizens have also been detained. In 2025, Donald Trump also issued more than 1,600 pardons of individuals convicted of crimes, including US Capitol insurrectionists and wealthy campaign donors.
