AMY GOODMAN: We’re going to end with the tens of thousands of people who braved the bitter cold Friday demanding ”ICE out” of Minnesota. Democracy Now!’s John Hamilton was there.

PROTESTERS: ICE out! ICE out! ICE out! ICE out!

JOHN HAMILTON: It was 10 degrees below zero Fahrenheit when a crowd numbering in the tens of thousands marched through downtown Minneapolis Friday afternoon calling on ICE to get out of Minnesota. It was the largest single day of action so far in the ongoing standoff between local community and the Trump administration since ICE, Border Patrol and other federal agents, now numbering around 3,000, descended on Minnesota for Operation Metro Surge several weeks ago, bringing chaos, fear and violence.

JENNA SHERRICK: My name is Jenna Sherrick. I’m a local Minnesotan who grew up here my whole life. What’s going around is not OK, and we all need to be here to make a difference and say it’s not OK. When cruelty becomes reality, compassion becomes radical.

SARAH SHEA: Sarah Shea. I’m a Minnesotan. And I’m here to support our immigrant neighbors and our friends and families and people who are not deserving what’s going on right now. It’s outrageous. We’re frustrated. We’re angry. We’re everything. And we should all be out here supporting our neighbors and getting ICE out of our city. ICE out. And we protect us, because right now that is all us. It’s all community. We are the only ones out here doing it for each other.

PROTESTER: Standing back and not doing anything doesn’t help with, you know, the situation. Everybody’s scared. Everybody. So we need to speak out.

JOHN HAMILTON: The day of action was organized by clergy and labor leaders under the banner ”ICE Out: A Day of Truth and Freedom.” The Minnesota AFL-CIO, representing over a thousand unions across the state, endorsed the march, as well as many others. John Reuss is an English teacher with the Minnesota Federation of Educators.

JOHN REUSS: And we are here to shut it all down. All of us teachers, from Minneapolis to St. Paul, from all the way up from Duluth down to Rochester, we are all here in the middle of Minneapolis to shut it all down for our students and their families, and ICE out of our communities. Every teacher has so many stories right now.

But, you know, one, last week, I had a student who joined online during class, and in the middle of my lesson — I teach English — the student messaged me and said, ”ICE is outside of my house right now. What do I do?” And, you know, I stopped class right away. All the students heard what happened. And, you know, thank God his neighbors were out there outside of his house, and they chased ICE out of their neighborhood. Those agents had been circling his house all morning. And, you know, I think it’s really telling of our community, of our neighborhoods, how we’ve organized and how we are out there defending one another, including my student, who, thank God, he’s safe.

You know, the fear is so tangible. The fear is so tangible. This is our last option. We need to shut it all down. And so I am calling on every educator in this state, in this country, to shut it down, with Minneapolis, with St. Paul. You need to shut it all down with us, because if we do not shut it down right now, your city is next. And I do not — we do not want that to happen. We want to protect our students. We want our students back in schools. And the way we are going to get it is by shutting it down, to get ICE the hell out of here.

JOHN HAMILTON: Among those protesting were members of the Hmong American community, like Julie, whose family came to the United States decades ago as refugees after working alongside the U.S. in its secret war in Laos during the Vietnam War. She held a sign that read “Hmong Against ICE.”

JULIE: It’s scary, because they don’t — regardless of if you’re a citizen or not, they don’t ask. No question asked. They just assume that you’re illegal, that you’re a criminal. And it’s not fair for those of us people of color. My parents, they’re citizens. But we all live in fear. I’m a citizen, and I still live in fear every single day. And then, now my kids are in fear of, you know, going to school, because they have heard of stories of kids getting detained. And then, my kids, they’re scared of going to school. And we was promised safety. We was promised that, you know, we’ll get the freedom. But yet, today’s world, we are seeing that, you know, it’s getting revoked. Like, the United States are taking back the words. And the question is: Why? Why is it getting revoked? Why are we now being targeted as, you know, aliens, criminals? Some of us took off work, no school, no shopping, so we’re all out here against ICE.

JOHN HAMILTON: As demonstrators in the streets shut down parts of the Twin Cities, more than 700 businesses across the state closed their doors for what some called an economic blackout or general strike. Insight Brewing in Minneapolis was closed for business but stayed open for neighbors participating in the day of action. This is marketing manager Joey Steinbach.

JOEY STEINBACH: We are a space for our community, and our community is hurting right now. And the best way that we can help out is just direct-to-family donations. We’ve got a bunch of volunteers that are absolutely stellar. Outside of that, we’re just making some signs. We’re providing snacks, hand warmers, you know, just being a temporary third space while we’re not open for official business.

JOHN HAMILTON: Corporations that support or work with ICE were also targeted by demonstrators, like at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport —

PROTESTERS: Whose airport? Our airport! Whose airport? Our airport!

JOHN HAMILTON: — where demonstrators gathered to protest deportation flights.

PROTESTERS: Delta, Delta, you can’t hide! We can see your ICE-y side!

JOHN HAMILTON: The crowd of several hundred held signs that said “Business as usual doesn’t fly” and “Renee Good was good.” Among those who gathered were dozens of faith leaders. They shared stories of airport workers who had been arrested.

CLERGY MEMBER: We lift up Pedro, a janitor who helped his sister, who is unable to work, and was detained. He decided to self-deport because he could not take the conditions at the detention center in Texas.

JOHN HAMILTON: The union that represents airport workers reports at least 12 members have been arrested by ICE. Clergy then joined arms and sang, while others knelt and prayed, before police surrounded them, and at least a hundred were arrested.

PROTESTERS: For every one that you arrest, a thousand more will show up next!

JOHN HAMILTON: According to organizers, more than 70,000 people marched in Minneapolis Friday, and several thousand were in attendance at the Target Center for a rally. This is comedian and native Minnesotan, Lizz Winstead.

LIZZ WINSTEAD: And the untold thousands that are in this sport bowl facility, I am proud to call you neighbors. I do have to point out that we are in the Target Center, which may seem ironic, but remember, the Target Center is something our tax dollars pay for. So, chant it with me: Whose stadium?

CROWD: Our stadium!

LIZZ WINSTEAD: Whose stadium?

CROWD: Our stadium!

PROTESTERS: We are many! We are many! We are one! We are one!

JOHN HAMILTON: The venue is named after the retail giant based in Minnesota that activists have criticized for permitting ICE to operate on their property and to arrest employees without warrants.

LIZZ WINSTEAD: And when today is over, let’s commit to shopping at the businesses that stood with us, and make sure they can make it through these tough times, because the silence from the corporations in this state is deafening.

JOHN HAMILTON: Speaking at the rally, faith and labor leaders urged Minnesotans to continue to stand together. This is CWA President Claude Cummings.

CLAUDE CUMMINGS JR.: We stand in defiance of a wannabe dictator, and we will rise against the corporations and Trump’s billionaire buddies quietly funding his campaign to shred the Constitution. Political scientists and historians tell us, when countries have successfully prevented or reversed authoritarian control, unions have played an important role in stopping it. How do we do that? We stand shoulder to shoulder with our union siblings and with allies across the country. We do that when we join together and focus our attention directly on the corporations that enable fascism. Our unity across communities, organizations and unions is our power. And whatever we do, we must do it together.

JOHN HAMILTON: And they spoke of neighbors who had been lost to ICE violence. This is Rabbi Arielle Lekach-Rosenberg.

RABBI ARIELLE LEKACH-ROSENBERG: I want to lift up the names of two neighbors: Victor Manuel Díaz, abducted from his workplace in Minnesota on January 6th, who died in ICE custody in Texas on January 14th.

CROWD: Shame!

RABBI ARIELLE LEKACH-ROSENBERG: I want to lift up the name of Renee Macklin Good, queer poet, wife, parent, murdered in south Minneapolis by ICE on January 7th while observing an abduction in her neighborhood.

CROWD: Shame!

RABBI ARIELLE LEKACH-ROSENBERG: May their memories be for blessing. May their families be comforted and surrounded in love.

JOHN HAMILTON: The next day, another Minnesotan would be killed, Alex Jeffrey Pretti. For Democracy Now!, this is John Hamilton in Minneapolis.

AMY GOODMAN: Voices from Friday’s massive protest and rally in Minnesota as unions and churches led an economic blackout to protest ICE. Special thanks to John Hamilton and Sam Alcoff, and our special storm team here in New York: Tey-Marie Astudillo, Charina Nadura, Robby Karran, Mike Burke, Nicole Salazar, Mike Di Filippo, Safwat Nazzal, Becca Staley, Jon Randolph, Carl Marxer, Julie Crosby, Deena Guzder, Messiah Rhodes. I’ll be speaking at the John Barrymore Center in Fort Lee.