Statement by International Workers Unity – Fourth International (IWU-FI)
On Friday, January 23, a historic mass mobilization and a powerful general strike took place in Minneapolis. The strike had been called days earlier by various trade union and community organizations in the city in protest against the murder of Renee Nicole Good on January 11 by ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents, and to demand an end to immigration persecution in that city. Following Good’s murder, large demonstrations took place daily in various cities, with clashes with the repressive forces.
The call for a strike was taken up by dozens of organizations, and on January 23, Minneapolis woke up paralyzed. On the coldest day in recent years, with temperatures around -20°C, a massive demonstration with more than 50,000 participants filled the streets of the city. These demonstrations were replicated in other cities and amplified by the 50501 Movement, which since Trump’s inauguration for his second term has brought together various organizations to confront Trump’s authoritarianism, repression, and austerity measures, promoting massive actions throughout the US.
This is the largest protest since the outbreak of popular unrest in several California cities in 2025 against Trump’s mass deportations, which aim to deport one million people each year. The crimes of Trump and his ICE agents, which include torture, murder, and rape, have generated widespread outrage.
In Minneapolis and Saint Paul, the so-called Twin Cities, a strong organizing process is underway to ensure independent patrols to anticipate ICE intervention and strong solidarity with the migrant population threatened by the government’s repressive violence. To ensure the strike, various initiatives were carried out, such as large demonstrations inside shopping malls calling for stores to close and a major intervention at the local airport to ensure the suspension of scheduled flights. During this action, about 100 people were arrested. During the afternoon, and braving the extreme cold—which has forced New York to declare a state of emergency—various columns arrived in the city center with signs demanding justice for Renee Good and all those murdered, the dissolution of ICE, an end to raids, and a clear rejection of Trump’s policy of supporting genocide in Gaza, his attacks on Venezuela, and his threats against Greenland.
As the struggle grows, ICE and federal agents continue to kill
After the successful strike and large mobilizations, federal agents patrolling Minneapolis killed again. On the afternoon of Saturday, January 24, a group of federal agents subdued and shot and killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old healthcare worker. Once again, everything was recorded on cell phones and quickly made public, sparking widespread outrage.
The Trump administration has attempted to justify the executions of both Good and Pretti by claiming they were “terrorists,” even though both were killed while participating in nonviolent protests and recording ICE actions. Trump, who, true to his paranoid style, has classified anti-fascism as a “terrorist organization,” has also accused the governor of Minnesota and the mayor of Minneapolis, both liberals from the Democratic Party, of leading an alleged “insurrection.”
During Trump’s second term, 37 people have died in ICE custody. Trump not only guarantees impunity for ICE and National Guard agents, but also praises them as “patriots” for their criminal actions and has approved record budgets for ICE.
On January 22, the House of Representatives approved—with the votes of seven Democrats—the National Security Act and a new funding package for ICE to continue strengthening an unprecedented repressive apparatus. Meanwhile, large demonstrations are demanding the dissolution of ICE and its immediate withdrawal from neighborhoods. A new mobilization toward Congress is being prepared for February 17, a “National Day of Direct Action,” and health care unions are beginning to discuss possible strike measures against repression, while sustaining a historic strike in New York’s large private hospitals. From the International Workers Unity – Fourth International (UIT-CI), we stand in solidarity with the ongoing mobilizations and demand justice for the people and activists who have been killed. We demand the release of imprisoned migrants and an end to mass deportations. We join in demanding the dissolution of ICE and the immediate withdrawal of federal forces from working-class neighborhoods.
