Statement based on reports from ISG members in Minneapolis, published January 25, 2026
Yesterday morning, January 24, ICE agents in Minneapolis shot and killed Alex Pretti, an anti-ICE activist, Veterans Affairs nurse, and union member in the American Federation of Government Employees. This comes a day after tens of thousands of protestors took to the streets of Minneapolis against ICE in what organizers called “A Day of Truth and Freedom.”
ICE brazenly continues to terrorize communities and murder innocent civilians in the streets. While ICE assaults, kidnaps, and kills, working people are told to accept violent and deadly attacks by ICE and police forces. We need to escalate the fight against ICE. The mass protest in Minneapolis on January 23 was significant, but we need a much greater and more organized response to demand ICE off our streets.
Minneapolis community organizations, faith leaders, and union leaders have pointed out the need for “No School, No Work, No Shopping.” But Jan 23rd saw many workers still at work, unable to call off without risking getting fired, and Minneapolis schools were all closed that day, meaning there were no student walkouts. A city-wide strike, backed by union members committed to refusing to work regardless of unjust labor laws or contract clauses that ban strikes, would do more to stop Trump and ICE in their tracks than Friday’s mass protest.
Many illegal strikes and strikes in violation of contracts have been organized, even in recent years, and in far less dire circumstances. Union members can come together to organize collective refusal to work until ICE has been fully kicked out of the city. Minnesota has 379,000 union members, and union density sits at 14.2%, higher than the nationwide 9.9%. Unions should get political and throw their weight into the fight against ICE. The unions, by endorsing and supporting the day of action, have put themselves in a position of leadership of the anti-ICE movement in Minneapolis, at least in the headlines and media, but they have not mobilized their own membership out into the streets. If ICE’s escalation in the wake of the Day of Action is not answered by an escalation by the unions, ICE will be further emboldened and the momentum from the day of action will be lost. Union leadership needs to decide whether they are going to back up their anti-ICE rhetoric with action or stand on the sidelines.
An emergency mass meeting of unions, community groups, left groups, and individual activists can be organized to plan out next steps to escalate the fight against ICE. Working people in Minneapolis are rightfully furious and have been bravely sacrificing a great amount of time, resources, finances, and energy, putting their own lives on the line to fight back against ICE. But all of us can’t be everywhere ICE is at all times, and it’s dangerous to confront ICE and militarized police forces that attack and kill with impunity. How best can we pool together our collective power to most decisively strike back against ICE and demand ICE OUT NOW? Neighborhood meetings can allow activists to come together to discuss and debate what needs to be done and to elect representatives to attend a joint citywide emergency meeting, where a plan of action can be discussed and voted on. With larger and broader organization, coordinated action, and a strong plan to stop ICE such as a serious general strike fully backed by union members, Minneapolis working people could make real the demand for ICE OUT NOW!
Business shouldn’t continue as usual, we need a disruption to oppose ICE terror. Working people, youth, and other activists can take over the area of Nicollet Ave where Alex Pretti was murdered and do a total occupation, set up blockades (as activists had already done right after Alex Pretti was killed), and refuse to let ICE, Minneapolis police, and other police forces into the neighborhood. This can be run under the democratic control of working people through elected committees. Already last night on Nicollet Ave, Independent Socialist Group members saw the beginnings of an occupation. There were multiple blockades set up, “warming stations,” medic stations, etc. Multiple tables on the streets provided food and water, hand warmers, masks, and there were activists in the crowd with hand warmers to ensure community safety. The warming station at Glam Donuts, outside of which Alex Pretti was killed, had coffee, water, and restrooms activists could use. People inside were discussing what next for the fight against ICE, raising ideas and strategy. Occupations such as these in Minneapolis could empower working people to protect themselves against the capitalist state and their violent forces.
Workers and youth can’t rely on the Democrats that are backed by corporate interests. Jacob Frey, Tim Walz, and the rest of the Democratic Party in Minneapolis have called for peaceful protests while they send in the National Guard and city police to defend ICE agents and brutally repress protestors. Independent Socialist Group members who were at the scene of the ICE killing of Alex Pretti, a few hours after the shooting, witnessed Minneapolis police launching dangerous tear gas grenades, pepper spray, and flash bangs at protestors, and dragging protestors on the ground. The Democrats aren’t able to stop Trump and his use of ICE terror across the country. They’ve supported, funded, and helped build up ICE over the past 20+ years through multiple administrations, and they continue to legitimize ICE.
Working people need our own representation. We need a workers’ party in the US that can stand against the corporate duopoly, both the Democrats and Republicans. A workers’ party can bring together the fight against ICE with the labor movement, the fight against the cost-of-living crisis, the anti-war movements. A crucial part of this needs to be a mass organization to build a movement to stop ICE regionally, statewide, and nationwide. We can organize and take coordinated action to demand ICE OUT NOW!
Independent Socialist Group stands with the working people of Minneapolis against ICE terror. We call for:
- ICE off our streets!
- Convict killer ICE agents!
- Abolish ICE
- Demilitarize our cities. Withdraw the National Guard troops and city police who are defending ICE in Minneapolis. Stop assaulting and arresting protestors and using tear gas, stun grenades, flash bangs. For democratically-elected committees to hold Minneapolis police accountable, with the power to investigate and prosecute.
- For a working-class occupation of the area of Nicollet Ave where Alex Pretti was murdered, under democratic control of workers and youth, with barricades and full operation of the neighborhood by anti-ICE activists and community groups.
- For unions to respond to ICE’s murder of union member Alex Pretti with an emergency strike.
- For unions and community organizations to help organize an emergency mass meeting of union members, students, young people, and individual protestors and activists to plan a coordinated strike in Minneapolis until ICE leaves the city.
- For a workers’ party to unite the fight against ICE with the labor movement and the wider working class. Working people need political representation in this country, instead of being funneled into either the Democratic or Republican Party which are both funded and controlled by corporate interests.
Photos from the rally at the site of the murder of Alex Pretti:
Independent Socialist Group 