Thousands of demonstrators participated in a rally and march during an "ICE Out” day of protest Minneapolis Friday, braving sub-zero temperatures to participate in what they are calling a "day of action" as hundreds of businesses close their doors.
They're calling it a "Day of Truth and Freedom," a response to the presence of federal immigration agents in Minnesota.
"Despite the cold, we need to be out here to support our neighbors because it's without our neighbors, we are nobody. We need people to Build community and be there for each other," one protestor told WCCO's Taylor Rivera, who is at Target Center where a rally is scheduled to take place.
Those protests marched from U.S. Bank Stadium, on the east side of downtown Minneapolis, continuing to make its way towards Target Center on the west side despite wind chills in the 20 below range.
The weather didn't stop anything, as Friday's demonstration clearly transformed into one of the largest demonstrations in Minnesota history.
The event at Target Center is a ticketed event, so as hundreds make their way through security checkpoints, a sea of protesters outside continued to demonstrate in the streets.
Earlier Friday, protests started at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Organizers say 100 Minnesota clergy were arrested at the airport while denouncing the ongoing ice surge in the state as part of these daylong protests.
The Metropolitan Airports Commission said it had worked in advance with event organizers to best accommodate their right to freedom of expression, but that permitted activity went beyond that agreed upon terms in MSP Airport.
At that point, airport police began taking necessary action, including arrests, although there has been no confirmations on that official number.
Meanwhile, ICE officials are defending their actions after detaining a 5-year old boy in Columbia Heights during an operation where the boy's father was also detained.
Marcos Charles is the head of ICE enforcement removal operations, and he maintains that the boy's father fled those agents.
"Arias fled from law enforcement on foot, abandoning his child in the middle of winter in a vehicle," said Charles. One of our officers stayed behind with that child while other officers apprehended his father. After conducting the arrest, my officers stayed with the child. They cared for him, took him to get something to eat from a drive-through restaurant, and spent hours ensuring he was taken care of."
That is counter to what witnesses who were at that arrest say. They, along with Columbia Heights school officials have maintained ICE officials used the young boy as bait to try and arrest other family members that were inside of that home.
Protesters demand ICE leaves Minnesota
The Rev. Elizabeth Barish Browne traveled from Cheyenne, Wyoming, to participate in the rally in downtown Minneapolis.
“What’s happening here is clearly immoral,” the Unitarian Universalist minister said. “It’s definitely chilly, but the kind of ice that’s dangerous to us is not the weather.”
Protesters have gathered daily in the Twin Cities since Jan. 7, when Renee Good was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer. Federal law enforcement officers have repeatedly squared off with community members and activists who track their movements.
Sam Nelson said he skipped work so he could join the march. He said he’s a former student of the Minneapolis high school, where federal agents detained someone after class earlier this month. That arrest led to altercations between federal officers and bystanders.
“It’s my community,” Nelson said. “Like everyone else, I don’t want ICE on our streets.”
Organizers said Friday morning that more than 700 businesses statewide have closed in solidarity with the movement, from a bookstore in tiny Grand Marais near the Canadian border to the landmark Guthrie Theater in downtown Minneapolis.
“We’re achieving something historic,” said Kate Havelin of Indivisible Twin Cities, one of the more than 100 participating groups.