Verse of the day Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it commits sin. Voice of the dayWas it possible to carry on along through all the years, the decades, through an entire life without once being brave enough to go against what was there and yet call yourself a Christian, and face yourself in the mirror? Prayer of the dayAwaken our hearts to our neighbors' needs that we have yet to find courage to help tackle. | |
IF you remain silent while our government violates the civil liberties, human rights and constitutional rights of residents of our nation but not you ( YET ), while our government illegally arrest, detains and even illegally deports residents and citizens of our nation but not you ( YET ), while our government commits violence on and murder of residents of our nation but not you or yours ( YET ) then YOU are complicit in these actions. E mail and or call your representative and senators and demand these actions stop and those responsible for ordering these actions and activities be removed and when possible prosecuted and punished. AND doing so once is not enough, it has to be done at least every other week until we have saved our democratic Republic from being replaced with a authoritarian theocratic oligarchy. This Verse and Voice from Sojourners , the article from the New York Times.....
‘Enough Is Enough’: Hundreds of Minnesota Businesses Take Stand Against ICE
No work, no shopping, no dining out. Hundreds of businesses across Minnesota were expected to close and many people vowed to pause everyday activities on Friday as part of a general strike against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
As tensions mount and a sense of fear of detention by immigration agents permeates the state, vendors, labor unions and residents said they would participate in an economic blackout and gather at prayers and protests on what organizers called a “Day of Truth and Freedom.”
“It’s tense and emotional, and folks are hurting,” said Bishop Dwayne Royster, the executive director of Faith in Action, which is helping with the organizing effort. Minnesotans, he said, are demonstrating “deep resilience and willingness to stand together in ways I haven’t seen folks do in a very long time.
The day of the strike, which was set to include outdoor demonstrations, dawned with much of the Midwest, including all of Minnesota, under an extreme cold warning from the National Weather Service. The cold was particularly bitter in Minneapolis, with temperatures as low as minus 20 forecast for much of the day, with wind chills even lower.
Parts of the city seemed like a ghost town on Friday morning, with many cafes and local coffee chains shuttered, signs posted in their windows expressing solidarity with the strike.
One of the few places still serving coffee was Misfit in Minneapolis, which sits in a large warehouse like building west of downtown. The owner, Marcus Parkansky, said his way of participating in the strike was to remain open on Friday but only offer coffee, pastries and espresso shots free of charge. And, thanks to a donation from a woman in Texas, there will also be a bottle of bourbon and a bottle of Baileys, for anyone who wants to spike their cup.
As to the point of the strike, Mr. Parkansky said he hopes it shows the federal government how organized Minneapolis is and how much people oppose the immigration enforcement surge. “What we want to see is for the shenanigans to stop,” he said.
Word of Friday’s strike and protests spread “like a wildfire” in the preceding days, said Jake Anderson, an executive board member with the St. Paul Federation of Educators, a labor union representing teachers and educational support professionals. Hundreds of businesses, mostly in Minneapolis and St. Paul, said they would close, while others have vowed to pause any economic activity, stay home from work or school, or fast to show support.
“There’s a time to stand up for things, and this is it,” said Alison Kirwin, the owner of Al’s Breakfast, a restaurant in Minneapolis that closed on Friday. “If it takes away from a day of our income, that is worthwhile.”
The strike comes as Minnesotans have clashed for weeks with federal agents, mostly in the Minneapolis and St. Paul areas. The immigration operation, which started late last year, has led to some 3,000 arrests, at least two shootings in Minneapolis and chaotic scenes on the streets.
Calls for the ouster of federal agents have grown from residents and local officials in recent weeks, especially after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot Renee Good, an American citizen, in Minneapolis on Jan. 7. Protesters and state officials have also filed lawsuits to restrict the agents’ conduct toward demonstrators and to block the surge of immigration agents in the state.
But federal officials have asserted that the crackdown is necessary to root out fraud in the state’s social services system and have defended the actions of the ICE agent who killed Ms. Good.
On Thursday, Vice President JD Vance said that the Trump administration wanted to “turn down the temperature” in Minneapolis after weeks of clashes. Mr. Vance, who said he had traveled to the city to understand the tensions, called Minneapolis protesters “far-left agitators” who had harassed federal agents. He also said a “failure of cooperation” by state and local officials was to blame for the situation getting “out of hand.”
In an email on Thursday, a Department of Homeland Security official called the strike “beyond insane,” asking, “Why would these labor bosses not want these public safety threats out of their communities?” The official then included a list of undocumented immigrants who had apparently been convicted of serious crimes.
Minnesota is a mecca for corporate headquarters, with 17 Fortune 500 companies based in the state. But those organizations have not spoken publicly about the federal immigration activity, and none of Minnesota’s 15 biggest employers, including Target, UnitedHealth Group and Xcel Energy, responded to requests for comment on Thursday.
Still, Friday may be the largest worker action in the state’s history, said Christa Sarrack, president of a labor union that represents about 6,000 of Minnesota’s hospitality workers. Ms. Sarrack said some of the union members’ employers had decided to close for the day, while others were allowing employees to not come to work.
“We cannot simply sit by and allow this to continue,” Ms. Sarrack said. “We must use every tool that we have to fight back.”
But not all employers have committed to striking. For some, the choice over whether to participate has not been an easy one because they simply cannot afford to lose a day’s revenue.
Andrew Schoenzeit, who owns Zipps Liquors in Minneapolis, said his business would remain open on Friday. But he said he supported the strike and had no problem with the one employee of his who he said requested the day off to protest.
Mike Logan, the president of the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce, said he was also supportive of businesses closing in protest but would not encourage them to do so. “The last thing we need is a slowdown of commerce,” he said.
For some leaders of local and state unions, the decision over whether to encourage their members to participate in the general strike was difficult because it was not organized understate and federal strike laws, and it was not considered an official “work stoppage day.” But the push for the boycott spread so widely that it became hard to ignore.
Chris Rubesch, president of the Minnesota Nurses Association, a labor union representing more than 22,000 nurses and other health care workers across the state, said he and other leaders were discouraging their members from missing work because of “no-strike” provisions in their contract. But he said the union was encouraging the members to participate in other ways, including by not participating in any economic activity.
Mr. Anderson, the board member of the St. Paul Federation of Educators, said his union signed on to the day of action after much debate, and has sent letters to members asking them “to decide what that call to action means to them.”
“We decided it was now time to take a stand,” Mr. Anderson said. “It was time to boldly declare that enough is enough. We’re not going to take it anymore.”
Kailyn Rhone and Zachary A. Bohlman contributed reporting.
Pooja Salhotra covers breaking news across the United States.
Jazmine Ulloa is a national reporter covering immigration for The Times.
Unrest in Minnesota
Detention of 5-Year-Old: A photo showed a boy with an oversized hat and Spider-Man backpack being held next to a vehicle as his father was detained by immigration authorities. A Homeland Security spokeswoman said the man had fled and left the child.
Bovino Says Activists Are ‘Stalking’ Agents: Gregory Bovino, a senior Border Patrol official, complained that protesters in Minneapolis were stalking federal agents, and demanded that the local police collaborate with the federal authorities on their immigration crackdown.
Protest of Minnesota Pastor: The Justice Department said that it had arrested three of the demonstrators involved in interrupting a church service in St. Paul, Minn., to protest a pastor’s apparent work as an ICE official.
Agent Describes Assault: An agent told an investigator that he was assaulted with a broom and a shovel before he fired a single shot that wounded a Venezuelan man.
Wrongly Arrested Citizen: Images spread online after agents arrested a barely dressed Hmong immigrant, a U.S. citizen with no criminal record who was released after being questioned. Officials said they had been seeking sex offenders.
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