(The Center Square) – The Minnesota economy is struggling as widespread protests continue in the midst of an ongoing federal immigration operation in the Twin Cities.
Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, both Democrats, highlighted their economic concerns and called for an end to the federal operation.
“Operation Metro Surge is hurting small business and doing long-term damage to Minnesota’s economy,” Walz said. “It’s time for this campaign of retribution to end.”
That statement was made following the Trump administration announcing on Wednesday that it will remove 700 federal agents who are assisting immigration enforcement measures in Minnesota.
White House Border Czar Tom Homan said during a news conference that a “mix” of Custom and Border Protection and ICE officers would be removed from Minnesota. He estimated around 2,000 federal agents would remain in Minnesota.
Frey said that is still too many – calling for all agents to be removed.
“We’ve all heard about the families getting torn apart,” Frey said in a video posted to social media. “We’ve all heard about the constitutional violations. We’ve heard about people going hungry. In addition to that, there’s a massive impact on our small and local businesses.”
Frey said that new data shows small businesses in Minneapolis are losing between $10 to $20 million every week. He added that Latino- and Somali-owned businesses are being especially hard hit, while hotels have lost an estimated $4.4 million due to cancellations.
Frey argued the solution to these economic problems is for federal agents to leave Minnesota.
“There is a very quick and straightforward antidote to bring these businesses back, which is to have Operation Metro Surge end and to have ICE leave our city,” Frey said. “Let’s bring the economy back. Let’s help these businesses out.”
Walz has called the federal surge to Minnesota a “campaign of retribution” by the Trump administration against the Democrat-run state. He added that the pullback of some agents is a “step in the right direction,” but not enough.
“Operation Metro Surge is not making Minnesota safer,” he said on Wednesday. “We need a faster and larger drawdown of forces, state-led investigations into the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, and an end to this campaign of retribution.”
Republicans point to ongoing unrest and protests as also playing a role in the economic downturn, with the Republican Party of Minnesota calling it “mayhem and lawlessness” and the state a “national disgrace.”
Trump officials have argued that the surge would not have been necessary if the Twin Cities did not have sanctuary city policies, which prevented collaboration with federal agents on immigration enforcement. Vice President J.D. Vance emphasized that point in a recent visit to Minneapolis.
“Why are we not seeing it anywhere else? We are seeing this level of chaos only in Minneapolis,” he said. “Maybe the problem is unique to Minneapolis, and we believe that it is, and it’s a lack of cooperation between state and local law enforcement and federal law enforcement.”
