‘We’re back to COVID’: Minnesota restaurant owners say ICE enforcement is crippling their businesses

Restaurants in the Twin Cities area have sounded off that the ICE raids to enforce immigration law have put a strain on their businesses. 

The Minnesota Star Tribune interviewed a variety of restaurateurs in the Twin Cities about how their businesses have been impacted by ICE under President Donald Trump. Mass deportations and enforcement of American immigration law have been some of Trump's most consistent flagship policies, but Latin-American and Somali business owners are not pleased. 

"As immigration enforcement activity increases across the Twin Cities and the suburbs, food businesses are adjusting, making visible changes such as locking doors to screen customers before entry, cutting hours, switching to takeout-only service, temporarily closing and consolidating space. Many restaurants are operating short-staffed, with owners taking on multiple roles simply to keep things going," the Star Tribune reported.

Rolando Diaz, the owner of Marna’s Eatery and Lounge in Robbinsdale, noted that his restaurant is feeling the strain of current events. His restaurant is one of many that has become short-staffed because many employees are reportedly afraid to come to work for fear of being caught by immigration enforcement efforts.

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"I’m a really positive guy, but I’m also very realistic," Diaz told the local news outlet, noting that ICE’s efforts in the area are "not something that’s gonna be done in a week, so we’re just preparing for the hit now."

"During COVID, people were afraid to go out because they were afraid to get sick and die," he noted. "Now they’re afraid to get out of the house and never come back to it."

Another restaurant owner, Miguel Lopez of the Homi Restaurant on University Avenue in St. Paul, offered a similarly grim comparison, saying, "We are pretty much back to COVID."

"I’ve had customers and friends that have been stopped on their way here and asked for papers," he told the local news outlet. "As a business, we’re hurting."

According to the Star Tribune, Venezuelan-born restaurateur Soleil Ramirez, the owner of Crasqui, "stopped taking walk-ins after a recent incident in which Ramirez said a man who identified himself as an ICE agent dined at the restaurant. Community members arrived for support and stayed until closing."

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She noted that as an immigrant, she needed to train family members to run the restaurant in case she is detained. 

"I need to have a plan B as a business person," she said. "But also as a human."

ICE enforcement has impacted other cultures' businesses as well.

"At Albi Kitchen on the edge of downtown Minneapolis, owner Fardowsa Abdul Ali said her colorful cafe with Somali sweets and sambusas was already struggling, ever since a viral video about a nearby daycare showed images of her business," the local news outlet reported, later adding that she has faced harassment on her phone as a result of the video.

"I really lost a lot of customers," Ali said. "They don’t come here."

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She said she has considered hiring security for the café but said she can’t afford it. 

"I don’t feel safe, to be honest," Ali said. "I came to this country to be safe, not scared."