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Tenant and labor unions in Minneapolis and St. Paul have announced plans to carry out what they said would be the “largest rent strike in the United States in the last 100 years.”

Beginning on March 1, if Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz does not meet their urgent demands for an eviction moratorium and rent relief, a coalition of nearly 26,000 workers has pledged to withhold rent, which they said could create a massive economic disruption.

The plans were announced on Tuesday by the tenants union Twin Cities Tenants, which is joined by five labor unions: Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 26, SEIU Healthcare Minnesota/Iowa, UNITE HERE Local 17, the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) 1005, and Communication Workers of America (CWA) 7250.

They argued that a freeze on rents is desperately needed after “nearly three months of federal occupation” under President Donald Trump’s “Operation Metro Surge,” which sent nearly 3,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other immigration agents to the area, resulting in multiple fatal shootings and a wave of civil rights violations, including explicit racial profiling.

MAJOR: Twin Cities Tenants joins five labor unions, together repping 25,900 members, to launch a rent strike drive, vowing to withhold rent March 1 if @GovTimWalz fails to deliver an eviction moratorium and rent relief. If launched, the largest US rent strike in 100 years. pic.twitter.com/0ZGZABEKEd— Tara Raghuveer (@taraghuveer) February 17, 2026

MAJOR: Twin Cities Tenants joins five labor unions, together repping 25,900 members, to launch a rent strike drive, vowing to withhold rent March 1 if @GovTimWalz fails to deliver an eviction moratorium and rent relief. If launched, the largest US rent strike in 100 years. pic.twitter.com/0ZGZABEKEd

The unions said the daily presence of militarized agents “has taken a painful economic toll on poor and working-class tenants across the Twin Cities.”

As ICE Terror Forces People Inside, Calls Grow for Eviction Moratorium in MN

“Over 35,000 low-income Twin Cities households were already unable to afford the rent before the federal siege,” they said. “Estimates show over $47 million in lost........

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