By Bethany Blankley | The Center Square contributor
(The Center Square) – A “national shutdown” and strike has been planned for Friday by several groups in protest of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“No work. No school. No shopping. Stop funding ICE,” the movement states. Hundreds of groups are supporting the strike nationwide, with scheduled events planned in multiple states. Supporting groups include the Palestinian Youth Movement and the Council on American-Islamic Relations, groups that supported anti-Israel protests after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack against Israel.
CAIR issued a statement in support of the nationwide strike, demanding “an end to ICE’s violent abuses and lawless conduct in our communities. ICE agents have killed innocent people in broad daylight. They have laid siege to cities, terrorized families, and trampled basic civil rights. These actions are not about safety or law and order; they are about fear, intimidation, and unchecked power. And they must stop.”
“This strike is a way to show that when our government is out of control, we will not be silent — and we will not be divided,” it says.
CAIR has been designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the Republican governors of Texas and Florida and is embroiled in legal battles in both states. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has taken multiple actions against CAIR, including launching investigations and calling for its nonprofit status to be stripped at the federal and state level, The Center Square reported.
The groups refer to ICE as creating a “reign of terror” by raiding neighborhoods and “kidnapping our neighbors.”
The movement appears to be organizing similar actions and events as those that were organized nationwide after the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks.
In Texas, “strike” events are scheduled in Austin, Dallas and Houston. In Florida, they’re scheduled statewide. The greatest number of events scheduled for Friday appear to be in California, Washington, and several Midwest and northeastern states, according to its website.
In addition to taking action against CAIR, the Republican governors in Texas and Florida have cracked down on rioters and anti-Israel protesters on college campuses in their states. They and their legislatures also increased funds for grants to be used for security by religious groups, The Center Square reported.
As anti-Israel violence increased nationwide, Florida universities deactivated Palestinian groups expressly supporting Hamas and terrorist acts, and law enforcement efforts were expanded.
In Texas, Abbott issued directives to expand law enforcement efforts and an executive order to combat antisemitism on publicly funded college campuses, including arresting rioters. CAIR sued over the order arguing that protestors have a right to call for the annihilation of Israel. In Texas, college campuses were not shut down by rioters as they were in New York and protestors are not using vehicles to block federal immigration enforcement efforts.
Abbott has since directed enhanced security measures around places of worship in the wake of increased violence targeting churches and also surged antiterrorism resources, The Center Square reported.
Several Texas Republicans have expressed concerns about U.S. citizens being shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis. They also point out that similar violence isn’t occurring in Texas, where federal immigration enforcement is ongoing on a daily basis, The Center Square reported.
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said there have been roughly 60,000 ICE arrests in Texas compared to 10,000 in Minnesota, yet “we’re not seeing violent confrontations with ICE in Texas.” One main reason is because Texas officials, including the governor, legislature, mayors and police, are cooperating with ICE, working with the federal immigration enforcement efforts, he said.
Another is because Abbott has been leading on border security efforts for years and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Minneapolis’ mayor and local officials “have all decided to use Tim Waltz’s words, ‘go to war’” with ICE, he said. Anti-ICE protesters are organized, well-funded and operate similar to military groups, he added, pointing to rioters using surveillance and attacking federal officials with their vehicles.
He also suggested that Trump administration officials tone down their language. After each U.S. citizen was killed, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem characterized them as “domestic terrorists.”
“What I think the administration could do better is, is the tone with which they’re describing this,” Cruz said. “We took out a violent terrorist, hurray,” referring to the characterization. “The problem is, particularly for someone not paying attention, if you’re being told this is a mom of three and there’s no indication, you know, she’s not waving an ISIS flag or, or, or doesn’t have a suicide vest around her, escalating the rhetoric doesn’t help. And it actually loses credibility.”