Immigrant businesses struggle amid ICE crackdown
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Colonial Market owner Daniel Hernandez spoke in a South Minneapolis church, flanked by Mayor Jacob Frey and Police Chief Brian O'Hara. Photo: Kyle Stokes/Axios
ICE's enforcement surge in the Twin Cities has cast a shadow over daily life in immigrant communities.
The big picture: Commerce has slowed to a virtual standstill for businesses whose immigrant customers — including legal residents, those with temporary deportation protection, and naturalized U.S. citizens — are staying home for fear they'll encounter ICE.
- The Department of Homeland Security says agents have made more than 400 arrests during "Operation Metro Surge" in raids that have been met by dozens of protests across the metro.
What they're saying: Many immigrants are "so scared to go out just because they're Brown, just because they're Black," Colonial Market owner Daniel Hernandez told reporters Tuesday.
Zoom in: Hernandez said business at his Lake Street grocery is down 85% from its normal level. Of his 25 employees, 21 aren't working out of fear of ICE, he said.
- Hernandez and two or three volunteers are now delivering 50-100 orders daily to customers afraid to go outside.
Zoom out: Other community leaders shared similar stories.
- "The clientele has dropped significantly — Latinos, and Somali as well," said Lake Street accountant Rudy Trujillo.
- Karmel Mall, a hub of South Minneapolis' Somali diaspora, is now "empty," one restaurant owner told the Minnesota Reformer — one of many enterprises catering to the East African community that's also seeing declines in business.
With St. Paul customers also staying home, landmark Latino grocer and restaurant El Burrito Mercado in St. Paul has shortened its hours — and is screening customers as a precaution against ICE gaining entry, the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal reported.
- A Brooklyn Park coffee shop where ICE arrested a staff cook last week — reportedly after agents posed as customers — is now "closed for remodeling," according to CCX News.
Plus: The chilling effects extend beyond a decline in commercial foot traffic.
- Uber and Lyft drivers and advocates told a Metropolitan Airports Commission meeting this week that ICE agents are asking drivers at MSP Airport to produce their passports.
- Legal advocates have been educating parents on how to make arrangements — including on how to appoint a temporary guardian for their children — if they're detained on immigration grounds, MPR News reports.
The other side: "Riddle me this: how is arresting rapists, child pedophiles, gang members, and burglars hurting Minneapolis?" a DHS spokesperson told Axios. "They should have two words for law enforcement, THANK YOU."
By the numbers: From January through mid-October, 44% of the people ICE arrested in Minnesota had no criminal record, according to the Deportation Data Project.
Editor's note: This story was updated with a comment from the Department of Homeland Security and additional context.