Nationwide Anti-ICE Protests Reveal How Unions and Organized Leftist Groups Aim To Rekindle the Anger and Disorder of Black Lives Matter
Labor unions, which once helped coordinate BLM protests, have assumed a new role in organizing anti-ICE disruptions
Jessica Schwalb
January 23, 2026
The mass, coordinated anti-ICE protests and walk-outs across the country on Friday—many of them coordinated by organized labor—are the latest sign that unions and left-wing activist groups view resistance to ICE and immigration enforcement as their best opportunity in years to rekindle the rage and rioting that marked the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020.
That was the year when, in the name of George Floyd, Black Lives Matter rioters torched a Minneapolis police precinct, smashed in storefronts in Los Angeles, and launched fireworks inside a Seattle Starbucks in addition to violent and sometimes deadly unrest in other large cities such as Atlanta, Milwaukee, and Portland. Roughly five years later, with BLM dormant and discredited, the organized left, led by labor unions, is rekindling national unrest—but with a fresh cause.
The call to impede ICE and Border Patrol agents and National Guard troops has become the latest anthem sung among activists in those deep blue cities and others, including New York and Hartford. Labor unions have endorsed a "Day of Truth & Freedom" in Minnesota, which entails hundreds of businesses closing their doors on Friday as a strike against the federal immigration crackdown. Activists in cities across the nation will join in "ICE Out For Good" marches to show solidarity with the Minnesota effort.
The organized nature of the demonstrations has not been lost on President Donald Trump.
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https://freebeacon.com/america/nationwide-anti-ice-protests-reveal-how-unions-and-organized-leftist-groups-aim-to-rekindle-the-anger-and-disorder-of-black-lives-matter/
