Shop owners report steep losses as federal enforcement actions dampen foot traffic.
By Mary Spiller
Black Enterprise
https://www.blackenterprise.com/
As federal immigration enforcement intensifies under President Donald Trump’s deportation push, small business owners in Minnesota say the economic fallout is undermining promises that stricter policies would benefit Black and Hispanic workers.
During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump argued that immigrants were taking jobs from minority communities. “They’re going to be attacking—and they already are—Black population jobs, the Hispanic population jobs, and they’re attacking union jobs too,” he said at a rally in Reading, Pennsylvania.
But in Minnesota, where federal agents have carried out one of the largest recent enforcement deployments, many entrepreneurs say the opposite is occurring. Storefronts in diverse neighborhoods report sharp declines in customers and revenue, with some warning they may not survive the year.
Local business leaders launched “A Week to Shop Local for Truth & Freedom,” urging residents to spend money in neighborhood stores ahead of Valentine’s Day. Organizers argue the downturn is not seasonal but tied directly to fear surrounding immigration raids.
Brian Atkins, co-owner of Custom Designs in Brooklyn Park, said his shop typically sees slower sales after the holidays. “November, once after Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas is slow,” he told The Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder. But ICE’s presence has “made it even slower.”
Community advocates say many residents are avoiding public spaces, concerned about potential encounters with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Yusra Mohamud told the outlet the impact along Minneapolis’ Lake Street corridor is staggering.
“Right now, ICE activity is hitting our corridor hard. Businesses on Lake Street are losing tens of millions of dollars a month,” she said. “That number continues to grow.”
Financial estimates reflect the depth of the downturn.
Russ Adams, of the Lake Street Council, a nonprofit serving the largely immigrant neighborhood of the same name, said projections show between $10 million and $20 million in weekly losses citywide, with approximately $46 million in revenue disappearing across December and January on Lake Street alone.
“You don’t come back from that in a single quarter,” Adams said.
Carl Swanson of the Minnesota CDFI Coalition warned that prolonged disruption could destabilize lending networks. “Even a 20 percent default rate would mean a $140 million loss to Minnesota’s economic ecosystem,” he said, noting there is “no federal safety net” to offset such damage.
For many owners, the crisis is also about principle. “Shopping local for truth and freedom is about saying clearly and publicly that our local economy should not be built on fear,” said Lawrence Eddison of Custom Designs.
Emilia Gonzalez Avalos, the executive director of Unidos MN, added, “Where you spend your money is one way we show what kind of community we want to live in. It’s also about solidarity.”
The economic ripple extends beyond Minnesota. In Columbus, Ohio, immigrant entrepreneurs gathered at the Global Mall to describe similar struggles.
Khalid Turaani of CAIR-Ohio said “we’re seeing ICE agents are parked at the front literally to disenfranchise these businesses who are legal, who are taxpayers, who are employers,” he told WCMH-TV.
On the West Coast, Los Angeles County officials reported roughly $3.7 million in losses between July and September 2025 following federal immigration raids. County supervisors commissioned the study after enforcement operations intensified, citing concerns about harm to local economies.
From Minneapolis to Columbus and Los Angeles, business owners say the effects of heightened enforcement are measurable not only in dollars lost, but in communities strained by fear and uncertainty.
