Nearly $700 Million in Damage: New Report Details the Economic Devastation Operation Metro Surge Left Behind in Minneapolis
Contributing writer Clint Combs reports on a sweeping new report estimating that Operation Metro Surge inflicted nearly $700 million in economic damage on Minneapolis, including $445 million in lost business revenue and $152 million in lost worker wages, told through the story of Daniel Hernandez, who is closing his South Minneapolis Colonial Market after 18 months of devastating losses.
Daniel Hernandez arrived in the United States at 16 chasing the American Dream. Twenty-four years later, he opened a third Colonial Market in South Minneapolis with 25 workers, $3 million invested and a vision for serving the Latino community along the Lake Street corridor. Eighteen months after opening day, he is closing the doors.
His story is one of thousands detailed in a sweeping new report estimating that Operation Metro Surge inflicted nearly $700 million in economic damage on Minneapolis. A figure city officials say is likely an undercount, with the true toll closer to $1 billion.
The 50-page report, released Wednesday, found that businesses lost an estimated $445 million in revenue and workers lost more than $152 million in wages over four months. Nearly 40% of residents avoided urgent care or hospital visits out of fear. Minneapolis Public Schools served roughly 441,000 fewer meals over three months as student attendance collapsed.
Three people died. Federal agents killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. Victor Manuel Diaz died in a Texas detention facility after being arrested in the city. A 2-year-old child was transported to Texas despite a court order.
Rachel Sayre, who spent a decade leading humanitarian responses for USAID in Yemen, Syria and Ukraine, said what she witnessed in Minneapolis was unlike anything she expected to see at home.
“People with masks, without any sort of seeming chain of command or rule of law… The way they were taking our residents out of the street, shipping them away without any sort of due process. Those are all conditions that you see in conflict zones that I’ve worked in,” Sayre said.
For Hernandez, the collapse was swift and unrelenting. Within weeks of Trump taking office, sales were cut in half. By fall, as masked federal agents patrolled East Lake Street, sales fell to 30% of normal. At the height of the surge, 90% of what little revenue remained came from deliveries.
The layoffs came in waves: three employees in the summer, two more in the fall, half the staff by January.
“Right now we have two people,” Hernandez said. “The families who were dependent on this store, this business, no longer have a job. Many of them are still looking, because the jobs are not that great right now, especially with so many businesses suffering.”
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said Trump’s hardline immigration crackdown forced many customers indoors.
“There were millions of dollars that were invested to make this business a reality,” Frey said. “By the way, it was a business that was very much needed in the community, because people need groceries. Daniel Hernandez, who’s a great business owner, couldn’t hack it. Why? Because when you lose 80% of your foot traffic for multiple months on end, yeah, there’s a lasting impact.”
Even as his business bled, Hernandez turned outward. He helped sign up roughly 6,000 children for DOPA, Delegation of Parental Authority documents ensuring children have a legal guardian if a parent is detained, and set up a service connecting neighbors with nurses and doctors who would visit their homes.
“I had the option to either cry about my business and all the money I was losing, or begin helping the community one way or another,” he said.
Jennifer Jackson King, owner of Prima Restaurant on Lyndale Avenue, said the operation was more damaging than the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Not knowing how long it would go on, who would be taken next… everything that you read about or heard was actually 10 times worse,” King said. “I don’t even think we’ve begun to see the real economic fallout.”
The city has approved $3.8 million in emergency rental assistance and a $7 million small business resiliency fund. But Council Member Jason Chavez said those figures fall far short.
“In order to implement long-term recovery at the scale that is required, and I will repeat, at the scale that it is required… there is a need for sustained investment, coordinated cross-sector action, and long-term community-centered strategies,” Chavez said.
Colonial Market’s other location remains open at 3120 N. Penn Ave.
Clint Combs welcomes reader responses at combs0284@gmail.com.