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Ahmed Makaraan, the executive director of the Ethnic Self-Help Alliance for Refugee Assistance, said the recent immigration crackdowns across the state have made the people he works with feel fearful and rejected. 

“They don’t want to feel outcast. They want to feel they belong here,” said Makaraan, who has lived in Moorhead for nearly a decade. Born in Somalia but having grown up in Kenya, he arrived in the U.S. as a refugee in 2017. 

As federal immigration enforcement crackdowns have fanned outwards from the Twin Cities, with ICE agents showing up in towns like Pelican Rapids and Detroit Lakes, the clients Makaraan works with have been increasingly worried about leaving their homes.

“People are not coming to the office,” said Mukaraan. “The last few weeks, it's been very challenging.”

Makaraan said he is answering more and more calls from people who don’t feel comfortable showing up at the physical office of his group, which is a collection of more than 24 organizations focused on helping immigrants. 

“We have been receiving consistent calls from the community. I'm talking about immigrants, refugees and the community in the area, and they are worried about going to work,” said Makaraan. “What’s going to happen to our kids, our children, when they go to school?”

He said there are lots of questions and uncertainty and not many answers.

Meanwhile, Makaraan said there are several local organizations that are pitching in to help immigrants in their communities who may feel afraid to leave their homes for fear of being targeted by ICE, which is something playing out all over 

For Good Farms, run by Garrett and Audra Maurer, recently donated most of their weekly crop to the Ethnic Self-Help Alliance for Refugee Assistance to distribute to families that may be worried about leaving their house to shop for groceries.

For Good Farms, based in Moorhead, sells garage-grown hydroponic lettuce, direct-to-consumer. 

“There’s a lot of hesitation for people to go out, especially in our Black and brown communities, new immigrants, things of that nature, which is very unfortunate and a tragedy,” said Garrett Maurer.

Currently, the company’s only crop is lettuce, which the Maurers grow in their garage without any soil or pesticides — just a nutrient-filled water solution and LED lights. 

They say that, generally, the lettuce they grow and distribute at a local bakery is much fresher than what Moorhead residents could pick up in the grocery store and will stay good for multiple weeks. 

Makaaran said he knows several families in the Fargo-Moorhead area who are tapping resources from For Good Farms and various mutual aid groups.

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Immigration enforcement in Minnesota

Noah Bloch

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Amid immigration enforcement efforts across the state, a nonprofit leader in the Fargo-Moorhead area said that many immigrants he deals with are afraid to leave their homes, and some organizations and businesses are trying to help out. 

A door with an 'Open' sign and a sign that reads 'Welcome to Eshara.'

Some immigrants in greater Minnesota fear leaving their homes

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