Small businesses across Minnesota’s Twin Cities are struggling to survive as a federal immigration enforcement operation has turned once-bustling neighbourhoods into ghost towns. Owners say the impact of ‘Operation Metro Surge’ could be worse than the Covid-19 lockdowns, with revenue collapsing and many enterprises forced to close their doors.
Soleil Ramirez, owner of Crasqui, a Venezuelan restaurant in Saint Paul, described a recent encounter with a man who asked unusual questions about her staff and then spoke loudly into his phone as if conducting surveillance. She believes he was likely a plainclothes immigration officer. ‘All my employees are legal. I’m 100% legal,’ she said. ‘But that doesn’t mean anything any more.’ Revenue at her restaurant is down 65%, and she says many friends have closed their businesses entirely.
The operation, launched in December, has deployed more than 2,700 federal agents to Minnesota, with a focus on Minneapolis and Saint Paul. Federal officials say it aims to arrest and deport undocumented immigrants. The Twin Cities are home to large Somalian, Hispanic, Hmong, Laotian and Ethiopian communities, and residents say these groups are now under attack. Even legal immigrants and US citizens have reported being racially profiled, and the killings of two protesters – Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti – have heightened fears of agent violence.
Oscar Murcia, owner of El Guanaco Bakery y Cafe, which has three locations across the Twin Cities, said sales have halved since the surge began. He temporarily closed his cafe on Minneapolis’s Lake Street, where most surrounding stores have shut. ‘Right now, most of our customers are not leaving their houses because they are afraid, and that has impacted us severely,’ he said. A survey of over 90 Latino-owned businesses by the Latino Economic Development Center found that nearly a third had temporarily closed due to staff shortages or falling foot traffic.
Alma Flores, chief executive of the Latino Economic Development Center, warned that many small businesses, especially those with immigrant owners, may not survive the coming months. ‘Their presence is fear-inducing,’ she said of federal agents. ‘People don’t want to be near them because, if you have darker skin, you’re a target.’
