What Did Minnesota Teach Us?
By Michael Posner
On February 12, White House border czar Tom Homan stood before reporters in Minneapolis and announced what thousands of Minnesotans had demanded for weeks: Operation Metro Surge was over. He said that more than 2,000 ICE and Border Patrol officers would withdraw. Homan framed the pullback as mission accomplished. But in reality, the administration left because a broad coalition of citizens, workers, and business leaders made the operation politically and economically untenable. The public and private efforts in Minnesota offer a model that should be replicated: a blueprint, not a one-off.
The campaign was not the work of any single actor. It was layered, unrelenting, and came from directions the administration clearly did not anticipate. The most visible pressure came from the streets. On January 23, in wind chills of negative 25 degrees, tens of thousands of Minnesotans marched through downtown Minneapolis in an “economic blackout.” More than 700 businesses shuttered in solidarity.
Roughly one in four Minnesota voters either participated directly or had a close family member who did. A national shutdown on January 30 spread the action to cities across the country. These were not symbolic gestures. The stoppage led to serious economic disruption—and got Washington’s attention.
Read the full Forbes article.
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Michael Posner is the Jerome Kohlberg Professor of Ethics and Finance, Professor of Business and Society and Director of the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights.