San Antonio businesses are jumping onboard to support a National Shutdown protesting United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, more commonly known as ICE. The shutdown is a unified action organized in solidarity with the Twin Cities — the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area — that has hundreds of official endorsers.
Minneapolis has become a hotbed for anti-ICE protests after agents killed two civilians, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, within blocks of each other in the first month of 2025. Protests had already been in effect in the area, since ICE had increased their presence in the Twin Cities for Operation Metro Surge on December 1, 2025.
Shutdown organizers also tied their organizing to Silverio Villegas González and Keith Porter Jr., who were killed by an on-duty ICE agent in Chicago and an off-duty agent in Los Angeles, respectively, within the past year.
Texas has its own connections with ICE. The Texas Tribune reported on government data in November 2025 showing that about a quarter (24 percent) of the arrests ICE made from the beginning of President Trump’s second administration to July 29, 2025, happened in Texas. According to the San Antonio Business Journal, ICE is eyeing the purchase of a 639,595-square-foot East Side warehouse at 542 SE Loop 410.
Liam Conejo Ramos, a five-year-old from a Minneapolis suburb whose photo being arrested in a bunny hat has gone viral, is being held in a facility in Dilley, Texas, where U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Dallas says none of the detainees have been accused of any crimes.
While some San Antonio businesses are closing entirely, some are choosing to donate all or some of their profits to immigrant rights and mutual aid organizations. Many businesses were hit hard by the freeze and winter storm over the weekend of January 24, which forced them to close — some of them for multiple days. Some onlookers point out that another day of lost income may also be a breaking point for hourly workers.
These are the San Antonio businesses that are either closed or donating parts of their proceeds on Friday, January 30:
Closed
Donating proceeds
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This article includes additional reporting from CultureMap San Antonio editor Brandon Watson.