Minneapolis — Daniel Hernandez’s grocery store in south Minneapolis has been serving Latino families for more than 5 years, but says it’s on the verge of closing due to lasting economic damage from the nation’s largest immigration enforcement crackdown.
Many of Hernandez’s clients have continued to stay home or have dramatically reduced their spending, and 10 of the 12 Latino small businesses that lease space from him remain closed, he said in an interview Friday. Although President Donald Trump’s administration scaled back the crackdown earlier, Pres Kristi Noem was fired As Secretary of Homeland Security on Thursday, many are still feeling the effects of this decision.
Only one business, an Ecuadorian ice cream shop, has been able to reopen since December, said Hernandez, an immigrant from Mexico. When the migration campaign began.
“I don’t know if my job will last, to be honest,” Hernandez said. “The extent of the damage is so great that I’m afraid.”
Noem was fired amid mounting criticism over her leadership, including her handling of the crackdown and the aftermath of the shooting deaths of two Minneapolis residents by federal officers, Renee Judd and Alex Peretti.
It’s not clear how many ICE employees and other federal employees remain in Minnesota After peaking around 3000 At the height of the boom. Noem estimated the number at 650 in her testimony before Congress this week.
But US Senator Amy Klobuchar told Minnesota Public Radio that Tom Homan, the White House border official, called her to say the total was incorrect, and they had reduced the amount. to their original number Just over 100 ICE officers, plus some additional agents, are working on fraud investigations.
Immigration, Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security officials did not immediately respond to emails requesting details on Friday.
Like Hernandez’s Colonial Market, many businesses owned by or catering to immigrants are still suffering from sharp declines in sales.
“Instead of spending $150, now they’re spending $30 or $40,” Hernandez said.
Other clients stopped coming altogether, either because they were afraid of arrest, regardless of their legal status, or because money was tight due to their inability to work.
Small businesses have collectively lost tens of millions of dollars in revenue, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said last month. He estimated the cost of the federal immigration process The city’s economy is $203 million In January alone, it left 76,000 people suffering from food insecurity.
“We are warning our community that the fight is not over,” Jelani Hussein, a Somali-American who serves as executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said at a news conference on Friday. “It’s a good day to say good riddance to Kristi Noem. But it’s not a good day to walk away from the fight.”
The prevailing feeling among many activists is that intense community organizing against the surge played a decisive role in the administration’s decline. They say this has led to the formation of powerful neighborhood networks that will endure and continue to push for social justice.
Minneapolis resident Patti O’Keefe, who was detained In January for following a federal officer’s car, she said she was glad Noem was gone but that it would take more to make real change.
“It’s a sign that we’re winning, that the Trump administration feels like it has to make a face-saving change because it’s losing public support and losing rhetoric,” she said. “And I think it’s a testament to the hard work of Minnesotans who have fought against the war of political revenge and xenophobia that has been and continues to be waged against us.”
Brandon Siguenza, who was arrested with O’Keefe, said the mood was not celebratory as the crackdown continued.
“I don’t think Minneapolitans are necessarily dancing in the streets,” Siguenza said. “Because there’s no justice for Rene Judd yet, and there’s no justice for Alex Peretti.”
Lucy Olson, a psychologist in Minneapolis, helped organize an underground grassroots network that swelled to include 2,000 volunteers to help about 500 immigrant families with legal issues, shelter, food, and rental assistance. She said that after the crackdown, the mutual aid systems that were formed will continue to respond to community needs.
“For those of us who have had the privilege of participating as volunteers, I believe we will never be the same,” Olson said. “I think there were cross-cultural friendships and an opportunity to build neighborhood networks that changed the face of our city.”
nikema levi armstrong, A local civil rights activist and attorney, at the news conference with Hussein, said Noem should have been fired after Judd and Preeti’s deaths.
Levi Armstrong, a non-denominational Christian pastor, is also one of them 39 people were charged For their alleged roles in A Protest in January at St. Paul’s Church where the Rev. David Easterwood, a senior local ICE official, is present. She said she had been praying for a day like Thursday when Noem was fired.
“So, while we celebrate the fact that this woman was taken away from her high position — where she thought she was untouchable, who thought she could literally allow these agents to get away with murder — we recognize that this system is deeply broken,” Levy-Armstrong said.
Brenda Lewis, superintendent of Fridley Public Schools in suburban Minneapolis, said Noem’s firing “doesn’t really matter” because the safety of children in her school district remains affected.
Fridley, which includes students from several Somali and Ecuadorian families, has been the site of increased ICE activity over the past two months. Federal vehicles have been found in neighborhoods near schools and at the homes of school board members.
Of the approximately 2,700 students in the district, more than 112 are unenrolled, Lewis said. Another 400 are in virtual learning. The district also lost $130,000 in revenue due to decreased participation in meal programs.
“It’s not a Democratic or Republican issue,” Lewis said. “This is about children’s safety, and we need to come together and ensure that this absolute removal of safety for school children by a federal agency can never happen again in our state or country.”
While the state’s top Republican leaders have generally supported Noem’s leadership of the surge, they have been mostly silent about its downfall. A message seeking comment from U.S. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, the state’s most powerful Republican, was not immediately responded to on Friday.
But Republican state Sen. Jim Abiller, a moderate from suburban Anoka, noted that he wrote to Noem in January expressing “serious concerns” about the actions of some of her officers in Minnesota.
“With her gone, I hope what happened in Minnesota does not happen anywhere else,” Abler said in a statement.
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Brock reported from New Orleans, while Raza reported from Sioux Falls, SD