The Minnesota Insurrection Is Bad for Business
Andrew Ross Sorkin wants corporate America to join the resistance. His latest DealBook column calls on business leaders to publicly condemn the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement in Minneapolis, framing recent shootings by federal agents as evidence of “systemic training failure” requiring CEO moral leadership.
The column is a masterclass in misdirection. More than 60 Minnesota CEOs—from Target, Best Buy, 3M, and Cargill—have already issued a letter calling for “de-escalation of tensions.” Sorkin says this doesn’t go far enough. They need to be more “forceful” against federal operations.
But what the awful situation in Minneapolis calls for is just the opposite: coherent and immediate condemnation of the metastasizing mob rule and insurrection on the streets of the City of Lakes.
Protesters against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) march through the streets of downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, on January 25, 2026. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images)
Want to de-escalate tensions in Minneapolis? Tell Governor Tim Walz and local officials to stop treating federal immigration enforcement as negotiable. Tell them to cooperate with lawful operations instead of cultivating an atmosphere of resistance. Tell them Minnesota businesses didn’t sign up to operate in a sanctuary jurisdiction that doubles as a test case for how much chaos local officials can generate.
The 2020 Playbook, Redux
We’ve seen this before. After George Floyd, corporate America rushed to embrace every demand from activist groups. As Charlie Gasparino chronicles in Go Woke, Go Broke, it was “among the most idiotic and counterproductive spectacles of virtue signaling ever.” Companies became vehicles for left-wing politics. They implemented illegal, racially discriminatory DEI mandates. They adopted absurdist gender theories pushed by transgender activists when “black lives matter” turned out to be a general call for far-left social engineering. They positioned CEOs as social justice warriors—a job description not typically associated with fiduciary duty.
Many have spent the past year quietly walking back those commitments, facing lawsuits and customer backlash. Sorkin’s response? Let’s do it again.
The chutzpah is impressive. He even cites Target’s experience with “political pressure” over DEI and Pride merchandise, not as a warning but as an implicit threat. Get on board, or face boycotts from the left. Never mind that Target’s troubles came precisely from the activism Sorkin now wants them to double down on.
The Lone Star State Shows the Way
Texas has far more illegal immigrants than Minnesota. Federal operations there are detaining and deporting illegal aliens in even larger numbers. Yet there’s no insurrection in Houston, Dallas, or Austin. No mobs blocking federal vehicles or attempting to impede law enforcement operations. No shootings that local officials weaponize against immigration enforcement. No network of leftists stalking anyone they suspect of being federal law enforcement.
The difference isn’t whether our laws are being enforced. It’s whether local officials cooperate or resist. Texas officials maintain order and work with federal authorities. The result: peaceful restoration of immigration law.
Minnesota officials have chosen differently. They’ve encouraged resistance, tolerated obstruction, and blamed the resulting chaos on federal agents doing their jobs. The mob blocking ICE operations isn’t demanding order—it’s demanding immigration anarchy. And Minnesota’s leadership is fine with that.
What CEOs Should Actually Say
The 60 signatories mention being in touch with federal, state, and local officials. But their letter doesn’t ask Minnesota’s government to do the one thing that would actually “de-escalate”: cooperate with federal law enforcement.
This isn’t complicated, and it should not be controversial. Companies can’t operate efficiently when state officials treat federal law as optional. If street obstruction becomes an effective veto over federal policy, the American people will have lost the right to democratically control immigration policy. And it won’t stop with immigration policy. Once selective compliance becomes acceptable, the precedent won’t remain confined to immigration.
The business case practically writes itself. Minneapolis businesses are closing in “solidarity” with anti-enforcement protests. Not because of supply chains or weather but because local officials have made lawful immigration enforcement enough of a street fight to shut down commerce.
Target, again, deserves special mention. The company has bled customers over political activism in the past. Target’s brilliant response to the Minneapolis mob: sign a letter implicitly criticizing federal immigration enforcement. Investors should ask the board to investigate management’s suicidal contempt for American law and the moral sentiments of the American electorate.
These executives should be demanding stable, lawful operating conditions from their state government. Instead, they’re offering diplomatic mush that satisfies no one.
Americans overwhelmingly support immigration enforcement and want fewer immigrants—legal and illegal—entering our country. They just elected a president who campaigned on it. They can see the difference between orderly operations in cooperative states and Minnesota’s deliberate chaos.
Calling on state officials to comply with federal law is the first step to restoring peace in the streets. The business community’s natural constituency isn’t protesters blocking federal vehicles. It’s customers who expect both lawful immigration policy and competent governance.
Don’t Go Woke, Don’t Go Broke
Sorkin wants America’s corporate leaders to make the same mistake they made when they errantly took the positions of the far left as indicative of their customers. The smart play: Issue a real letter to the officials actually causing Minnesota’s problems. Demand cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. Make clear that continued obstruction will force businesses to reconsider Minnesota operations.
Minnesota’s 60 CEOs have this backward. Sorkin’s solution would make things even worse. Federal agents aren’t the problem. State officials fostering resistance and chaos are.
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