The Twin Cities know first hand the pain and violence of ICE raids. Another casualty is their economy
Minnesotans are all too familiar with the pain and violence of the Trump administration’s unsparing mass deportation agenda. This past January, Minneapolis mom Renée Nicole Good had just finished dropping off one of her children at school when she was shot and killed by a mass deportation agent. Just a few weeks later, VA ICU nurse Alex Pretti was attempting to tend to a demonstrator who’d been shoved by mass deportation agents when he was shot point-blank in the head.
This bloody agenda reverberated far beyond the peaceful neighborhoods where Good and Pretti violently lost their lives. Under the administration’s Operation Metro Surge, this unprecedented surge of thousands of masked, armed federal agents resulted in what human rights experts have described as a campaign of “racial profiling, harassment, and surveillance.” This wave of violence stomped on personal freedoms, deprived residents of the ability to go to work, visit the doctor’s office and attend school. And, it cost the local economy millions.
TERRORIZE THE PEOPLE, RUIN THE ECONOMY
This “ICE Tax” has carried a steep price for working people all over the country – and the Twin Cities rank among the metro areas hardest hit by the enforcement surge.
- In 2025, ICE arrests in the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington metro area jumped 679 percent, from an average of 60 arrests per month in 2024 to 467 per month after the surge began, according to Brookings’ analysis of Deportation Data Project records. This represents one of the largest increases among the 86 U.S. metro areas Brookings identified as 2025 “surge cities.”
- Nationwide, the 2025 ICE surge eliminated an estimated 668,000 jobs, including some estimates as high as 297,000 jobs held by U.S.-born workers. Applying the surge’s national job losses to the Twin Cities’ 2024 employment base suggests an estimated 14,200 jobs lost in the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington metro area alone. Labor market data reveals that the leisure and hospitality industries were hit hardest, losing 4,000 jobs in January 2026 alone. “Excluding the pandemic, these are the largest employment declines Minnesota has seen in both leisure and hospitality and accommodation and food services since 2007,” according to North Star Policy Action.
- Local reporting confirms these findings on the ground: Minneapolis businesses lost an estimated $10 million to $20 million in sales each week during the operation while some immigrant-owned businesses lost up to 100% of revenue, according to city estimates. Dan Swenson-Klatt had to close his 20-year-old cafe after enforcement drove away many of his Latino and Somali customers, saying: “We don’t have the resources to maintain this.” Russ Adams, manager for corridor recovery initiatives, called it “an economic crisis of catastrophic proportions.” Read the full Minnesota fact sheet here.
THE ECONOMIC DESTRUCTION GOES BEYOND MINNESOTA
During a Capitol Hill press conference held in conjunction with America’s Voice this month, Congressional Hispanic Caucus members shared how this ICE Tax has been devastating their local communities in ways that impact all working Americans no matter their legal immigration status.
“Every week in San Antonio, there are restaurants announcing they’re closing, that they can no longer keep their doors open,” Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro said during the event. The San Antonio Express-News said that the Texas Restaurant Association “reported that 36% of surveyed operators have lost employees, and 28% saw fewer applicants or fewer offers accepted because of immigration enforcement.” Blanca Aldaco, owner of Aldaco’s Mexican Cuisine, told the outlet that many workers “are afraid to go out to work and afraid to go out and support the business. The fear of ICE has affected every industry, and we are feeling it all the way from the landscaper to the kitchen crew.”
This trend from Minnesota and Texas is happening all over the nation, as Rep. Castro noted in his remarks. “There are shops in towns across America who either can’t find the labor employees to keep them open, or they can’t find the buyers to keep them going.”
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ELECTED LEADERS WHO ENABLED THIS TO HAPPEN MUST BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE
“Minnesota families have already paid a painful price for this administration’s mass deportation agenda that resulted in unprecedented violence, unchecked lawlessness, and total chaos,” said America’s Voice Executive Director Vanessa Cárdenas. “Now we have the receipts on the economic damage too: ICE arrests in the Twin Cities surged nearly sevenfold, and the toll shows up in lost jobs, shuttered storefronts, and higher prices for every family in this state, whether they wanted this fight or not.”
“Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda – supported by his allies in Congress – has cost Minnesota dearly,” Cárdenas continued. “It’s time to end it, and end the ICE tax with it.”
