Protesters call for nationwide strike against Trump's immigration policies

Protesters across the U.S. are calling for “no work, no school, no shopping” as part of a nationwide strike on Friday to oppose the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

The demonstrations are taking place amid widespread outrage over the killing Alex Pretti, an intensive care nurse who was shot multiple times after he used his cellphone to record Border Patrol officers conducting an immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis. The death heightened scrutiny over the administration’s tactics after the Jan. 7 death of Renee Good, who was fatally shot behind the wheel of her vehicle by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.

“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,” said one of the many websites and social media pages promoting actions in communities around the United States.

Some schools in Arizona, Colorado and other states preemptively canceled classes in anticipation of mass absences. Many other demonstrations were planned for students and others to gather at city centers, statehouses and churches across the country.

Just outside Minneapolis, hundreds gathered in the frigid cold early Friday at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, the site of regular protests in recent weeks.

After speeches from clergy members, demonstrators marched toward the facility’s restricted area, jeering at a line of DHS agents to “quit your jobs” and “get out of Minnesota.” Much of the group later dispersed after they were threatened with arrest by local law enforcement for blocking the road.

Michelle Pasko, a retired communications worker, said she joined the demonstration after witnessing federal agents stopping immigrants at a bus stop near her home in Minnetonka, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis.

“They’re roaming our streets, they’re staying in hotels near our schools,” she said. “Everyone in this country has rights, and the federal government seems to have forgotten that. We’re here to remind them.”

In Michigan, dozens of students walked out of Friday morning classes at Groves High School in Birmingham, north of Detroit. The students braved the zero-degree temperatures and walked about a mile to the closest business district where a number of morning commuters honked horns in support.

“We’re here to protest ICE and what they’re doing all over the country, especially in Minnesota,” said Logan Albritton, a 17-year-old senior at Groves. “It’s not right to treat our neighbors and our fellow Americans this way.”

Numerous businesses announced they would be closed during Friday’s “blackout." Others said they would be staying open, but donating a portion of their proceeds to organizations that support immigrants and provide legal aid to those facing deportation.

Otway Restaurant and its sister Otway Bakery in New York posted on social media that its bakery would stay open and 50% of proceeds would go to the New York Immigration Coalition. The restaurant remained open as well.

“As a small business who already took a huge financial hit this week due to the winter storm closures, we will remain open on Friday,” they posted.

In Maine, where Republican Sen. Susan Collins announced that ICE is ending its surge, people gathered outside a Portland church on Friday morning, holding signs that said “No ICE for ME,” a play on the state’s postal code.

Grace Valenzuela, an administrator with Portland Public Schools, decried an “enforcement system that treats our presence as suspect.” She said ICE’s actions brought “daily trauma” to the school system.

“Schools are meant to be places of learning, safety and belonging. ICE undermines that mission every time it destabilizes a family,” Valenzuela said.

Portland Mayor Mark Dion, a Democrat, spoke about the importance of speaking out in the wake of ICE’s actions in the city.

“Dissent is Democratic. Dissent is American. It’s the cornerstone of our democracy,” Dion said.

Associated Press writers Mae Anderson in New York, Jake Offenhartz in Minneapolis, Patrick Whittle in Portland, Maine, and Corey Williams in Detroit contributed to this report.

Attendees hold signs at a news conference held by public officials and faith leaders calling for the abolishment of the U.S. Immigrant and Customs Enforcement, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026, in Portland, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

A sign at a cannabis shop indicates it is closed for the general strike to support the state's immigrant community Friday, Jan. 30, 2026, in Portland, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

People gather for a protest against ICE outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

A protester rallies against the presence of U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement in Maine, Friday, Jan. 23, 2026, in Portland, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

People gather for a protest outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

People gather for a protest outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

People gather for a protest outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

MIAMI (AP) — Florida won’t be getting hit with massive blankets of snow and ice like the rest of the U.S., but even frosty windshields and a few flurries can feel like Antarctica to people with permanent sandal tans.

The Midwest and South have been getting major winter storms for several days, and a giant cyclone forecast in the Atlantic Ocean is expected to pull that cold weather east as a powerful blizzard this weekend. The worst seems to be heading toward the Carolinas, but the Sunshine State's humans, animals and even plants are preparing for winter weather.

Ana Torres-Vazquez, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Miami, said a cold front earlier this week has already caused temperatures to dip some, but the region could experience record-setting cold this weekend.

“It looks like temperatures across South Florida are dipping into the 30s (Fahrenheit) for most of the metro area and maybe into the 20s for areas near Lake Okeechobee,” Torres-Vazquez said. “And then the windchill could make those temperatures feel even cooler.”

Residents of South Florida are less likely to have heavy coats and other winter clothes, so Torres-Vazquez said it's important to layer up lighter clothing and limit time spent outside.

Moving north, Tony Hurt, a National Weather Service forecaster for the Tampa Bay area, said there’s a 10 to 20% chance of snowfall in that region this weekend.

“Most likely if there’s any snow that does actually materialize, it’ll be primarily in the form of flurries, no accumulations,” Hurt said.

The last two times the area got snow was flurries in January 2010 and December 1989. The record for snowfall was in January 1977, with 2 inches (5 centimeters) of snow about 20 miles (32 kilometers) east of Tampa.

Despite the possibility of snow, Tampa will host the annual Gasparilla Pirate Fest on Saturday. And on Sunday, the Tampa Bay Lightning are set to host the Boston Bruins for an outdoor NHL game at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' home NFL stadium.

Few tourists visiting Florida will be swimming in the ocean or laying out on sunny beaches this weekend, but many attractions will remain open. Most of Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando will operate normally, though their water parks will be closed. Most of the state's zoos and animal parks will also remain open while keepers take steps to protect the inhabitants.

Zoo Miami spokesman Ron Magill said keepers have been setting up heaters and moving reptiles and smaller mammals to indoor enclosures, while primates like chimpanzees and orangutans are given blankets to keep themselves warm. Big cats and large hoofed animals generally do well in colder temperatures and don't require much assistance from keepers.

“It can be invigorating for animals like the tiger, so they’ll actually become more active,” Magill said.

Outside the safety of the zoo, Florida's native wildlife has evolved and learned to survive occasional cold snaps, though casualties will still occur, Magill said. Manatees, for example, have spent decades congregating at the warm-water outflows of about a dozen power plants around Florida.

But invasive, nonnative animals like iguanas and other exotic reptiles will suffer the most. Iguanas in South Florida famously enter a torpid state during cold periods and even fall out of trees.

“I think in South Florida you're going to see iguanas falling from trees, I mean a lot, once it gets under 40 degrees,” DeSantis said Friday at a news conference in Vero Beach. “In some of these places, it's going to be in the 20s and 30s.”

The iguanas usually wake up when the temperature increases, but many will die after more than a day of extreme cold.

“At the end of the day, they don’t belong here, and that might be nature’s way of trying to clean that up a little bit,” Magill said. “That is a part of natural selection.”

Florida's agriculture industry is also bracing for the cold. Farmers are working to safeguard their crops as winter harvest continues and spring planting begins in some areas, Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association spokeswoman Christina Morton said.

“Preparations vary by crop and include harvesting and planting ahead of the freeze, increasing water levels in ditches, using overhead irrigation, and, in some cases, deploying helicopters to protect sensitive fields,” Morton said.

The biggest concern for Florida's citrus growers was temperature below 28 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 2.2 Celsius) for more than four hours since that is when damage occurs. Citrus grower Trevor Murphy, who has groves in the interior of the state, said he planned to turn on his irrigation system when the thermometer hits just above freezing to create a protective layer of ice on the trees and also fog, which helps warm the groves.

“We are about as ready as we are going to be,” Murphy said Friday. “We will see Sunday or Monday what Mother Nature throws at us.”

The Florida deep freeze comes as the arctic blast from Canada also spreads into southern states where thousands of people remain without power to heat their homes, and people in mid-Atlantic states prepare for possible blizzard conditions as a new storm is expected to churn along the East Coast.

Temperatures in hard-hit northern Mississippi will feel as cold as minus 5 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 21 degrees Celsius) when the winds are factored in, National Weather Service forecasters say. People in a large part of the southeastern U.S. were under a variety of alerts warning of extremely cold weather on the way.

The storm expected to hit the Eastern Seaboard has prompted more warnings in the Carolinas and nearby states. That storm is expected to bring heavy snow and strong winds, which could create “dangerous, near-blizzard conditions,” the weather service warned.

Mike Schneider in Orlando, Florida contributed to this report.

Beachgoers brave the cold ocean temperature while walking on a sandbar Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026, in Miami Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Robert Minion and his friend James Denburg of MA., take advantage of the cool weather to play beach tennis Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026, in Miami Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

A bundled up Lucia Amato, of Argentina, sits on the shore while waiting for a friend in Miami Beach, Fla., Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026.A bundled up (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)