'This isn’t over': MN leaders say federal agents still causing chaos, economic disruption statewide
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Minnesota leaders on Friday said they started measuring the financial impact of Operation Metro Surge on the state, even as federal agents still caused daily chaos.
“This is still affecting us and will be affecting us for quite some time,” state Auditor Julie Blaha said. “It's statewide. The effects are far beyond Minneapolis, far beyond the metro, even. It is permeating the economic economy of our entire state.”
Blaha said small municipal governments throughout Minnesota were dealing with ballooning costs due to abandoned cars, overtime expenses for police officers, enrollment drops in public schools, more than $106 million in estimated lost wages, $203 million in economic damage and $81 million in business losses.
The Trump Administration’s attempts to disrupt federal funding streams were a “targeted attack” contributing to the state’s financial distress, Blaha said. She pointed to federal cuts in Medicaid, energy investments and food assistance as well as economic issues associated with the president’s tariffs.
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“Everybody – from somebody who was afraid to leave their home because they're a person of color living in Minneapolis to a farmer out in Moorhead – everyone is feeling the effects of this ICE surge,” Blaha said. “And they won't be over for a while. So we need to remember this tragedy is current, it's statewide and it is affecting our entire economy.”
State Rep. Brad Tabke, DFL-Shakopee, said his community was still “absolutely rocked by ICE on a daily, constant, non-ending basis.”
Construction in the community has “ground to a halt” with construction companies defaulting on loans after federal agents attempted to “commandeer lots and equipment” while trying to detain construction workers who were U.S. citizens at a job site, he said.
Two businesses on Shakopee’s main street have closed in recent weeks due to ICE’s presence, Tabke said. One of the businesses had federal agents “banging on the doors, trying to get the people who were doing the cleaning out of the building” as workers tried to move business supplies out of the area.
“It is just unconscionable what they've been doing in our communities,” Tabke said. “And it's really important to understand that this is not over, that this is a continuing process, and we very much expect that this was just an experiment for how they can mess with our communities and communities across the nation.”
Blaha said the economic impact would be especially difficult for small, municipal governments to swallow while trying to support those who need support with food, rent and dealing with trauma.
“Your economy is dropping, so your property tax, your revenue is going to go down. If you have a sales tax, it's crashing right now,” Blaha said. “And then add on to that, the federal programs you may rely on to handle this, they're also being undercut merely out of retribution. So it's a triple whammy on local government.”
Minnesota schools, besides facing attendance drops, harassment and the detention of students, staff and parents, have also faced financial repercussions.
According to a recent survey from the Association of Metropolitan School Districts, over half of Minnesota’s metro-area school districts say they are expecting a combined budget shortfall of more than $220 million for the 2026-2027 school year.
AMSD executive director Scott Croonquist told MPR News the expected deficit is due to several factors, including an increase in the cost of providing special education services, the state’s new earned sick and safe time law and a change in a mechanism school districts rely on to get state and federal funding for students from economically disadvantaged families. But a portion of districts’ expected deficits is also due to the ICE surge.
Croonquist pointed to districts needing to pay to transition students to online learning, as well as hire additional staff, expand transportation services, and add security staffing.
Some districts have also reported students unenrolling or disappearing from classes, which, among other concerns, could reduce state funding that is calculated on a per-pupil basis.
“Districts are still really trying to get a handle, I think, on what was the impact.” Croonquist told MPR News. “I mean, there's financial impacts. But then, of course, there's just, you know, the human impacts too.”
