UE locals across the country took part in a national shutdown against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on January 30th, joining a coordinated national effort to oppose detention, deportation, and the use of state power to terrorize immigrant communities. After federal agents murdered Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, Somali and Black student organizers from the University of Minnesota led the call for “no business as usual,” encouraging people to call off from school, skip on shopping, and take off from work to make broad participation feasible across the nation. Across workplaces, UE members promoted the shutdown, encouraged co-workers to flex their hours with vacation or sick time, organized turnout, and stood in solidarity with those most directly impacted by ICE.
At least ten UE locals participated in or actively promoted the day of action, including those at the University of Minnesota (Local 1105), the North Carolina Public Sector Workers Union (Local 150), MIT (Local 256), the University of New Mexico (Local 1466), New Mexico State University (Local 1498), Stanford (Local 1043), Northwestern University (Local 1122), the University of Chicago (Local 1103), Cornell University (Local 300), and City Market Co-op in Burlington, VT (Local 203). Together, these locals represent tens of thousands of workers who are coming together to oppose the use of state-sanctioned violence to intimidate workers and their communities.
Labor unions have long played a central role in defending civil rights in the United States, particularly when those rights are under threat from state repression. From opposing political targeting and mass surveillance to defending the rights of immigrants and marginalized workers, unions have acted not only as bargaining agents but as organizations capable of driving resistance at scale. UE Locals’ participation in the national shutdown against ICE reflects this tradition: when civil liberties are threatened, organized labor has both the responsibility and the capacity to respond.
“Our members and many people across this country are feeling righteous anger seeing events unfold in Minneapolis and in our communities,” said Lauren Chua, President of UE Local 256 (MIT GSU). “Now is the time to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our co-workers and educate them about the very real power they have to make change and stand up for what is right.”
UE members joined rallies and shared calls to action, drawing from the long-standing principle that an injury to one is an injury to all. By joining their communities, UE locals demonstrated how collective action can transform individual frustration and outrage into a broader challenge to the attacks from the federal government. Participation in the day of action highlights that defending immigrant communities is not separate from defending workers’ rights. It is part of the same struggle to protect dignity, safety, and democratic freedoms against the best efforts of employers to divide and rob workers of dignity.