ICE Crackdown Hurts Black and Immigrant-Owned Businesses Across Minnesota
Small business owners across Minnesota say a surge in federal immigration enforcement has sharply reduced customer traffic, cut revenue, and destabilized local economies. Despite claims that mass deportations would benefit Black and Hispanic workers, BIPOC- and women-owned businesses report significant financial losses as fear keeps customers and workers inside their homes.
During the 2024 presidential campaign, Republican nominee Donald Trump promised that the nation’s largest deportation campaign would benefit Black and Hispanic workers, claiming immigrants were taking their jobs.
“They’re going to be attacking — and they already are — Black population jobs, the Hispanic population jobs, and they’re attacking union jobs too,” Trump said at a campaign event in Reading, Pennsylvania.
But under the largest deployment of federal immigration agents to Minnesota, small business owners—many of them BIPOC- and women-owned—say sales and foot traffic have collapsed, contradicting the economic gains Trump promised minority communities.
From now through Valentine’s Day on Saturday, business owners and community leaders are urging Minnesotans to participate in A Week to Shop Local for Truth & Freedom, a campaign encouraging residents to support small businesses in diverse neighborhoods. Organizers stress that the losses businesses are facing are not the result of poor management or declining demand, but a direct consequence of a quota-driven immigration crackdown that has driven customers and workers into hiding, disrupting entire local economies.
Brian Atkins, who owns Custom Designs, a printing shop in Brooklyn Park, laughed when asked whether his business benefited from Trump’s deportation policy. Atkins and his business partner, Lawrence Eddison, had already prepared for typical post-holiday slowdowns.
“November, once after Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas is slow,” Atkins said. “But now ICE presents made it even slower.”
Many residents remain inside their homes, afraid to leave for work or shopping amid fear of deportation under policies Trump claimed would target criminals. The economic toll has been severe.
“Right now, ICE activity is hitting our corridor hard. Businesses on Lake Street are losing tens of millions of dollars a month,” said Yusra Mohamud at a Friday press conference at Urban Growler Brewing Company in St. Paul. “That number continues to grow.”
“We are already hearing that some businesses may not open tomorrow, next week, or in the coming weeks,” Mohamud said. “When businesses close on Lake Street, the impact does not stop here. It ripples out to neighboring corridors, to greater Minnesota, and beyond.”
Financial projections underscore the scale of the crisis. Based on City of Minneapolis estimates, small businesses are losing between $10 million and $20 million each week due to lost sales, closures, and workforce disruptions, according to Russ Adams.
“On Lake Street specifically, our projections show roughly $46 million in lost revenue across December and January alone,” Adams said. “You don’t come back from that in a single quarter.”
The ripple effects extend beyond individual storefronts. Carl Swanson, coalition strategist for the Minnesota CDFI Coalition, warned of systemic risk to the state’s economic infrastructure.
“In 2025, Minnesota CDFIs held nearly $700 million in loans across approximately 2,400 projects statewide,” Swanson said. “The risks we’re seeing are measured in days and weeks. Even a 20 percent default rate would mean a $140 million loss to Minnesota’s economic ecosystem, and there is no federal safety net in place to absorb that shock.”
For Eddison, the crisis is about more than economics.
“Shopping local for truth and freedom is about saying clearly and publicly that our local economy should not be built on fear,” he said. “This moment matters because ICE is intimidating people and violating Fourth Amendment rights.”
Emilia Gonzalez Avalos echoed the fear gripping communities statewide.
“ICE has impacted business because our customers are afraid to leave their homes,” Gonzalez Avalos said. “They’re afraid to come to our place of business just to support us. This has been harmful for all of us in the community.”
In response, business owners and community leaders launched A Week to Shop Local for Truth & Freedom, running through Saturday, calling on Minnesotans to stand in solidarity by supporting neighborhood businesses.
“Where you spend your money is one way we show what kind of community we want to live in,” Gonzalez Avalos said. “It’s also about solidarity.”
Alex West Steinman warned that the window for action is closing quickly.
“Many of these businesses don’t have months,” West Steinman said. “They have weeks. If these buildings sit empty, if this cultural corridor goes dark, it’s not just bad for business. It’s a devastating blow to the future of Minnesota.”
Business owners also called on major Minnesota corporations to speak out. Gonzalez Avalos specifically named Target, Land O’Lakes, and Cargill.
“There’s a responsibility that Target, as the largest grocer in Minnesota, has right now to lead with Fourth Amendment values and support small businesses,” Gonzalez Avalos said. “These are corporations that have built incredible wealth on the backs of immigrant workers, and they have remained neutral. We are inviting them into the light.”
For Atkins and Eddison at Custom Designs, like countless other shop owners across Minnesota, the question now is whether communities will rally—or whether Trump’s promises to minority voters will continue to unravel in the face of mounting economic reality.