“We are not backing down. We’re here to stay and we’re here to fight,” said Kadija, a Somali small business owner in Minneapolis.

Kadija is one of hundreds of small business owners participating in what is rapidly developing into a historic, multi-sector general strike in Minnesota on January 23.

Zahra Abdullah, owner of the Somaliweyn Community Center in Minneapolis, told Peoples Dispatch that her community is fully committed to driving Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) out of the state.

“We just want to get in the fight and keep fighting and send a message that we are not afraid,” Abdullah said.

Somali business owners say they are among the communities most heavily impacted by the expanding “Operation Metro Surge”. The more than 3,500 Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents operating in the city have ground business to a halt, they say.

“It impacted us financially, mentally and emotionally,” said Zahra.

“That’s why we’re shutting down our businesses that day.”

Claims by the Trump administration that the Somali community committed “billions of dollars in fraud” have largely been debunked, or were left unsubstantiated. However, the accusations were used to justify the initial deployment of 2,000 militarized ICE officers to the Minneapolis area. The rhetoric (aimed squarely at the Somali community) continues to be repeated by federal officials as they defend the operation. At the same time, ICE violence continues to escalate across Minnesota. Most recently, ICE arrested two teenagers in south Minneapolis on January 22, as reported by MPR News. A five-year-old was also detained in his family’s driveway and sent to a facility in Texas, along with his father, after ICE agents attempted to use the child as bait to enter the home, according to MPR News.

Rather than cowering in fear, the Somali community has responded defiantly, emerging as a leading force in the fight against ICE in Minnesota.

“No school. No work. No shopping”: Somali business owners back shutdown

“It’s time for us to come together, united as one Minnesota,” said Farhio Khalif, at a press conference hosted by business owners at Karmel Mall. The commerce hub is a cornerstone of the Somali community in Minneapolis.

At the event, business leaders declared total participation in the January 23 shutdown of Karmel Mall and other Somali malls across the Twin Cities.

“We Somalis have many faces,” said Abdullah, describing the economic power of the community. “We are taxi drivers. We are Uber drivers. We are truck drivers. We are business people and we are senators.”

“We help make the city run. We help make this state run,” said Ibrahim Sugelleh, a member of the Somali community and an organizer with the Twin Cities branch of the Party for Socialism and Liberation.

“Now, it is time to stand up for our brothers and sisters in the immigrant community who are terrorized by ICE … No school. No work. No shopping. On this Friday, January 23,” declared Sugelleh.

Speakers were flanked by dozens of Somali business owners holding placards reading “ICE OUT! Statewide Shutdown” and “Justice for Renee Good”.

Leaders told Peoples Dispatch that the Somali community has been holding regular organizing meetings and distributing flyers “all across Minnesota”, mobilizing the community into the shutdown. Organizers report that hundreds of small businesses have announced their intent to shut down on January 23 to demand ICE out of the state.

A fight over who Minnesota belongs to

Such mainstream support for demands that could amount to the abolition of the highest-funded federal law enforcement agency in US history might appear striking from outside Minnesota. On the ground, however, it has become second nature.

“ICE impacts a lot of people, not only the Somali communities, but also anybody, any race, any color,” said Abdullah, speaking to Peoples Dispatch.

“And I think we’re in this fight because of it. It’s about us versus them.”

Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, was murdered by an ICE agent on just the second day of “Operation Metro Surge”, while observing a raid in her neighborhood.

“Renee Nicole Good didn’t have to die because she cared about her community,” said Farhio Khalif.

“We stand with her. We pray for her and we’re here and her voice matters. Her fight will continue,” said Abdullah.

Consistently framing the events in Minnesota as a fight, Abdullah emphasized that the democratic rights many people in the US considered permanent were not granted from above.

“Anybody who made history, like racism, women voting, gay people’s rights, they fought to get whatever they have right now.”

Kadija agreed. She told Peoples Dispatch that there is no other option than to fight. “We need our rights. We are the people.” She added that the struggle unfolding in Minnesota has deep national implications. If ICE succeeds in Minnesota, they’ll be deployed to other states next, she said. “We rather come together and fight together.”

The mood in Minneapolis is electric, as a multi-sector working-class movement takes shape. One that organizers believe has the power to shut down the Twin Cities, the state, and ultimately force the White House to change course.

“Something is going to happen because all of us are in it and we’re fighting it together. My neighbors, the unions, my community. It’s big,” said Abdullah. “It’s a big thing.”

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