Minnesota business owners feeling the effects of ICE enforcement actions
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has ramped up operations in Minnesota. And that’s led several immigrant-owned businesses across the state to temporarily close their doors or reduce their hours because even staff members who are in the U.S. legally are worried about being profiled and detained by ICE.
MPR News reporters spoke to business owners about the challenges they are facing.
Corona’s Tacos in Rochester
At least eight local restaurants in Rochester are closed or have been forced to reduce their hours this week as ICE enforcement actions ramped up in the city.
That includes Corona's Tacos. It had to close temporarily after many staff members didn't show up for work. Owner Jesus Corona Ortiz says many of his workers are scared to leave their homes.
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"People are talking a lot. They get afraid, especially the workers in the kitchen," Ortiz told MPR News.
It's a story playing out in Rochester and all across the state. Restaurants everywhere from Fergus Falls to Woodbury have had to close temporarily due to staff shortages. And the trend highlights how increased ICE presence in greater Minnesota is causing fear among residents.
Ortiz has asked his family - all U.S. citizens - to help at the restaurant so they don't have to keep closing their doors. That includes his brother-in-law, Hugo Sanchez. Sanchez says that even if the restaurant's workers are in the U.S. legally, they're worried about being profiled by ICE.
"You know, if you're Brown, they're gonna pull you over, they're gonna ask you questions," said Sanchez.
Ortiz says getting supplies for his kitchen has become a challenge, too. Tortilla suppliers in the Twin Cities are facing similar staffing shortages and won't deliver to Rochester right now.
Just in the last week, Ortiz has had to drive to the Cities twice to make a pick-up... and that's about three hours in the car and away from the restaurant. His plan?
"I hope they have enough tortillas for me,” Ortiz said. “I'm gonna try to buy a whole bunch of them so I can have enough for the whole two, three weeks. I'm going to pick them up myself tomorrow or Thursday."
Ortiz says local restaurants have experienced staff shortages in the past when federal law enforcement increased. But since the Trump administration sent thousands of officers to the state earlier this month, it's become an obvious economic challenge for the city.
"It got crazier. Yeah, so, but we tried just, you know, to take care of ourselves, take care of employees, and I hope everything comes down a little better."
— Catharine Richert, MPR News, Rochester
Lito’s Burritos, Minneapolis
Lito’s Burritos on Lake Street in Minneapolis is open but the influx of federal agents in the neighborhood is bringing stress, and changing the way the restaurant operates.
The blinds are drawn. The front door is locked. A volunteer sits just inside to open it for customers.
“Our doors are locked for safety of people who just look brown,” owner Miguel Hernandez said. “People of color are just being pulled over on the sidewalk. So we want our staff to feel like they can operate and do their job and bring good food to the community.”
Hernandez was born in the U.S., but he's worried for his staff, even those who have legal status. He’s been responding as a community organizer, too, through the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee.
Federal agents in unmarked cars drive by his store several times a day, often tailed by community observers honking car horns and blowing whistles. Sometimes, they get out to question or detain someone. Hernandez has seen some of them set off chemical irritants against community observers nearby.
“It's been tough, but our crew has been incredibly brave. It sucks that you have to be brave to come to work,” Hernandez said.
Some small businesses in the neighborhood have temporarily closed, out of concern for their employees – or, after staff have been arrested by federal agents.
Hernandez said he's heard from lots of restaurant owners who are short-staffed and losing business, as immigrant workers and customers stay home. That’s been the case at his parents’ restaurant in Richfield, El Tejeban Mexican Grill.
Some shops have taken steps to keep serving community members who don’t feel safe venturing out, like offering delivery. Some have found volunteers to watch their doors, ready to blow whistles and take videos if they see federal agents approach.
Hernandez said that community help is encouraging.
“You can go block to block, and there's some kind of mutual aid happening at restaurants – just everywhere,” he said.
Hernandez doesn't want to close his doors. This location of Lito’s opened just two months ago, and he said closing down so soon would be a financial strain.
But more than the money, he doesn’t want to see cultural spaces like his business erased. He said he's proud to work on Lake Street, a longtime home for immigrant businesses.
“It's ultimately more difficult to see cultures, prosperity, be erased for people of color, for immigrants,” Hernandez said. “That's the massive loss that I think myself, our crew here at Lito’s and our community won't stand for.”
— Estelle Timar-Wilcox, MPR News, Minneapolis
Star City Mall, St. Cloud
On a typical weekday, New York Gyro on Third Street North in St. Cloud is full of hungry customers craving halal sandwiches, rice and kebabs.
But at lunchtime on Wednesday, the restaurant was mostly empty. Co-owner Haseeb Azam said the recent federal immigration enforcement action in St. Cloud is scaring people away.
"We have a lot of mixed customers, like Mexico and Somali and white,” Azam said. “But right now, most of them, the white customers come. But not Somalis, no Mexicans, nothing."
Azam said many of his employees are afraid to come to work. So he and his co-owners are working 12- to 13-hour days. If business doesn't pick up, he's not sure how long the restaurant can stay open.
"I don't think we can survive, not more than three, four months,” Azam said.
Across the street is the Star City Mall, a usually bustling strip mall that's a hub for the city's East African population. There's a clinic, pharmacy, grocery store and several cafes.
Two days after dozens of ICE agents clashed with protesters in the mall parking lot, the mall was quieter than usual.
"I was talking to some of the businesspeople here, and they already see the impact,” said Abdi Daisane, a Somali American business owner and a DFL candidate for the Minnesota House. “They see less people showing up to just hang out there, maybe more pick up than sitting down and enjoying their meal or even just socializing with people."
Daisane said people are afraid of being stopped indiscriminately and harassed by ICE agents, even though the vast majority of Somali Minnesotans are U.S. citizens or legal residents.
"We have seen instances where they drag people out of their car simply because they say, ‘No, I'm not going to give you my ID,’” Daisane said. “The threat is real, so people decided to stay home."
Several business owners didn't want to be interviewed. They said they're afraid that if they speak out, they'll be targeted by ICE.
Abdi Elmi owns a store in the Star City Mall that sells electronics and perfume. He said many of his customers and employees have been staying away.
"It’s every business,” he said. “It's not only me.”
Business owners say they hope the ICE activity ends soon, so customers and employees feel safe to return.
— Kirsti Marohn, MPR News, St. Cloud
