WATCH: Border Patrol Chief Bovino touts immigration operations in Minneapolis

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A broad network of labor unions, progressive organizations and clergy urged Minnesotans to stay away from work, schools and stores Friday to protest immigration enforcement operations, even as subzero temperatures ravage the state.

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Minneapolis and St. Paul have seen daily protests since Rene Judd was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer on January 7. Federal law enforcement officers have fanned out in the Twin Cities for weeks and repeatedly clashed with community members and activists tracking their movements.

Read more: Federal officers detain 5-year-old boy Minnesota school official says was used as ‘bait’

More than 700 businesses across the state closed their doors for the day in solidarity with the protest — from a bookstore in tiny Grand Marais near the Canadian border to the historic Guthrie Theater in downtown Minneapolis, organizers said Friday morning.

“We are accomplishing something historic,” said Kate Havelin of Indivisible Twin Cities, one of more than 100 groups mobilizing. The demonstration coincides with a wave of cold air hitting the upper Midwest and ahead of a severe winter storm expected to affect millions.

On Friday, Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino sought to change the narrative of a 5-year-old boy detained by ICE officers in Minneapolis by attacking the media for, in his view, inadequate coverage of children who have lost parents to violence by people in the country illegally. After briefly mentioning the 5-year-old during a press conference, he spoke about the mother of five who was murdered in August 2023.

On Thursday, a prominent civil rights attorney and at least two other people were arrested for their involvement in an anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted Sunday services at a church in St. Paul. They remained in federal custody Friday morning.

Read more: 3 people who participated in a Minnesota church protest were arrested

Organizers hope Friday’s rally will be the largest coordinated protest action yet, with a march planned for downtown Minneapolis on Friday afternoon. Earlier Friday, the temperature in Minneapolis reached 21 degrees below zero with a wind chill of 40 degrees below zero (29 degrees Celsius below zero with a wind chill of 40 degrees below zero).

Havelin compared the presence of immigration officers in Minnesota to winter weather warnings.

“Minnesotans realize that when we’re in a snow emergency, we all have to respond, and that makes us do things differently,” she said. “And what’s happening with ICE in our community, in our state, means we can’t respond as usual.”

Somali companies in particular lost sales during increased law enforcement, as workers and customers stayed home for fear of arrest.

Many schools were planning to close on Friday, but cited different reasons. The University of Minnesota and the St. Paul Public School District said there will be no in-person classes due to the extreme cold. Minneapolis Public Schools were scheduled to close for “Teacher Recordkeeping Day.”

Clergy intend to join the march as well as hold prayers and fasts, according to a delegation of representatives of religious traditions including Buddhism, Judaism, Lutheranism and Muslim.

Bishop Dwayne Royster, leader of the progressive organization Faith in Action, arrived in Minnesota on Wednesday from Washington, D.C.

“We want ICE out of Minnesota,” he said. “We want them out of all the cities across the country where they are engaging in extreme abuse.”

Royster said at least 50 of his network’s religious organizers joined the protest. An organizer there said about 10 were traveling from Los Angeles while others from the same group planned a solidarity march in California.

“It was a very horrific experience,” the Rev. Jennifer Gutierrez of a large immigration enforcement operation in Los Angeles said last year. “We believe that God is on the side of immigrants.”

Associated Press journalists Jack Brock and Sarah Reda in Minneapolis and Tiffany Stanley in Washington contributed.