Labor unions in the Twin Cities are urging people not to work or shop on Friday and instead gather to protest President Donald Trump’s deportation campaign, a sign of the organized resistance sprouting up as immigration agents continue to carry out raids and confront demonstrators in Minnesota.

Labor groups hope a one-day economic blackout will increase protest turnout and send a message to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that the agency isn’t welcome in the Minneapolis area.

“Any self-respecting union has to be stepping up and doing everything it can around this,” said Kieran Knutson, president of Communications Workers of America Local 7250, one of several local labor groups backing the action.

The White House has poured thousands of officers from the Department of Homeland Security into Minnesota in recent weeks, turning the state into ground zero for Trump’s immigration crackdown. Demonstrators have taken to the streets daily to protest the administration’s harsh tactics, including the killing of Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three who was shot by an ICE agent while in her car earlier this month.

ICE raids have swept up noncitizens and citizens alike, and Minneapolis labor leaders say agents have been harassing service and construction workers for weeks as they travel to and from their jobs.

At least 20 members of Service Employees International Union Local 26 have been “detained or abducted” over the past month, said Greg Nammacher, the union’s president.

“It’s just a complete disaster for our members’ families, for our community, and for our union,” said Nammacher.

The union, which represents janitors, airport workers and commercial building cleaners, held a meeting after Good’s killing in which it asked members who would be willing not to work or shop on Jan. 23 in order to send a message. Nearly everyone raised their hands, Nammacher said.

“The response has been overwhelming,” he said. “We are very sad that we have to do this, but also it gives us hope to see how much of the community is stepping forward.”

The protest — billed as a “day of truth and freedom” — began with just a handful of unions and faith groups. But it has quickly gained widespread backing and has the support of the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation, an umbrella group representing the area’s unions. Dozens of businesses are already preparing to close for the day, with many restaurants already hanging signs in their windows, labor leaders said.

“I’ve been very impressed with how many employers understand this is an important moment of unity,” Namacher said, noting that small businesses are tired of their employees getting harassed and their usual customers staying home out of fear.

Federal law enforcement stands outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building during a protest on Saturday, Jan. 17, in Minneapolis.

via Associated Press

Workers employed under collective bargaining agreements are typically barred from striking while the agreements are in effect, so unions have been urging members to take the day off in ways consistent with their contracts. Organizers have also called for no school on Friday. (Minneapolis Public Schools are already scheduled to be closed for a recordkeeping day.)

Chelsie Glaubitz Gabiou, president of the local labor federation, noted that a lot of workers won’t be comfortable demonstrating in the streets due to the presence of ICE. An afternoon march is scheduled to take place near the Vikings’ U.S. Bank Stadium, though the weather forecast suggests people will have to brave subzero temperatures.

“We have been collectively mobilized in the streets and somehow that has not been enough,” Glaubitz Gabiou said. “So we need to call for an even larger mass mobilization to invite in the folks on the sidelines who have a stake in this, to be a part of the solutions to get ICE out of Minnesota.”

Glaubitz Gabiou said she’s been disappointed with the relative silence of the business community in the face of immigration raids, likely out of fear of angering the Trump administration. After a local Hampton Inn hotel apparently canceled reservations for ICE agents on principle, the Department of Homeland Security publicly attacked Hilton Hotels on social media, prompting the hotel giant to cut ties with its franchisee.

ICE’s focus on Minnesota will cause a significant hit to the local economy, since businesses are losing workers and foot traffic, Glaubitz Gabiou said.

“The amount of damage that’s being done right now is not going to go away when they leave,” she said of ICE. “The road to recovery for Minneapolis is going to be long.”

The administration claims deportations will boost wages for native-born workers, but most labor leaders and many economists predict the opposite will happen.

Nammacher said the climate of fear is making it much harder for workers who’ve been exploited to stand up to unscrupulous bosses. He shared the story of a non-union janitor who came forward to blow the whistle on wage theft and help workers recover hundreds of thousands of dollars in backpay, only to be detained by immigration officials late last year. The worker is now in deportation proceedings.

“All that does is lower the wages and working conditions for workers here in the U.S., whether they’re born here or abroad,” he said.

Like local elected leaders, organizers of the Friday protest are urging people to demonstrate peacefully. Rather than deescalate the situation in Minnesota, Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act and send in the military, and around 1,500 active-duty Army soldiers are now standing by for deployment.

Knutson described the federal presence in Minneapolis as an attack on “our own dignity.”

“Working-class people are being terrorized every day in the Twin Cities,” he said. “But also working-class people are standing up to [ICE] all over Minnesota. That’s what gives me heart.”