Florida Groups Participate in National Shutdown Protesting ICE

To protest President Donald Trump’s far-reaching deportation efforts, groups all across the country, including multiple Florida businesses and organizations, are planning a day with no school, no work, and no shopping.

The impending shutdown comes nearly a week after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were seen beating and fatally shooting Alex Pretti, an intensive care unit nurse, during ICE’s occupation of Minneapolis. The killing, along with the fatal shooting of Renee Good, a mother of three, earlier this month, has sparked outrage worldwide and inspired protests across the country. Anti-ICE activists are calling for businesses to shut down, people to skip school, and consumers to refrain from making purchases on January 30 to protest federal agents’ aggressive tactics and deportation efforts. Scores of businesses, organizations, and student bodies across the country have pledged to take part in the so-called shutdown, with at least six Florida groups joining the cause.

“The people of the Twin Cities have shown the way for the whole country – to stop ICE’s reign of terror, we need to SHUT IT DOWN. On Friday, January 30, join a nationwide day of no school, no work and no shopping,” reads a message on the activists’ website.

While several major cities and states have a dozen or so groups signed up for the protest, Florida has few by comparison; there are only two apparent South Florida groups on the website’s list. Artists for Artists: Miami, an independent collective of artists, and Florida Tiles N More, a Doral-based flooring company, appear to be the only South Florida groups signed up to join the protest. Other Florida-based groups that plan to participate include the Florida Palestine Network, Pensacola Abortion Rights Taskforce, Pensacola High School students, and Tampa Bay Immigrant Solidarity Network.

“The entire country is shocked and outraged at the brutal killings of Alex Pretti, Renee Good, Silverio Villegas González, and Keith Porter Jr. by federal agents,” shutdown organizers wrote on their website. “While Trump and other right wing politicians are slandering them as ‘terrorists,’ the video evidence makes it clear beyond all doubt: They were gunned down in broad daylight simply for exercising their First Amendment right to protest mass deportation. Every day, ICE, Border Patrol and other enforcers of Trump’s racist agenda are going into our communities to kidnap our neighbors and sow fear. It is time for us to all stand up together in a nationwide shutdown and say enough is enough!”