Some members of the Twin Cities’ immigrant community say Operation Metro Surge is now only striking fear in the Latino and Somali communities, but it’s also harming their small businesses.
The Minnesota chapter of the Council for American-Islamic Relations organized a day of action Friday for Somali businesses in Minneapolis’ Cedar-Riverside neighborhood.
“We encourage folks to patronize the business, to learn about the community,” said Jaylani Hussein, the council’s executive director. “And this will send a strong message to Minnesotans and all of us that our neighbors are going to come visit us, our neighbors are going to be available, and most importantly, to also help the businesses that have been significantly impacted.”
Less than three miles southwest of Cedar-Riverside, the impact on Lake Street in Minneapolis — a corridor enriched by Latino and Somali businesses — is silence.
Daniel Hernandez owns Colonial Market and Restaurant, which he says hasn’t looked this empty since the pandemic.
“[Federal agents are] actually snatching people from the streets,” Hernandez said.
He says customers and employees alike are afraid to leave their homes.
“Many people say, ‘Oh, they’re fearful because they don’t have papers.’ No, that is not correct,” he said. “They’re fearful because they are Latinos being targeted by ICE.”
Gladys Ramos says it’s the same situation at Plaza Mexicana, where she’s afraid she’ll lose her store without customers. Hernandez helped introduce her to WCCO, translating her heartbroken words from Spanish to English.
“This is going above and beyond pain and suffering,” Ramos said. “What did I did to deserve so much hate to us? What did we do? We just work, we just contribute to this country. What did we do?”
Adding to the emptiness in Plaza Mexicana is the fact that some employees are missing. One of the store owners tells WCCO they were detained by ICE out on Lake Street when they were coming into work.
Hernandez once again lent his voice to share the words of another community member, Antelna Rebeva.
“There is a lot of people that used to work here, they no longer are here because they got caught by immigration,” Rebeva said.
Since Operation Metro Surge began last week, ICE has selectively announced 19 individual arrests. The agency has yet to respond to WCCO’s request for data on the total number of people detained so far this month.
The Minneapolis City Council believes the number is closer to 400.
