February Shop Local month

Businesses struggling during Operation Metro Surge got a boost Jan. 29 from Gov. Tim Walz, the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, foundation leaders and elected officials. They announced a “Shop Local, Stand Together,” a new campaign encouraging Minnesotans to support small, locally owned businesses – particularly those which have seen reduced foot traffic and heightened fear and uncertainty due to the ongoing federal presence in Minnesota.

February was declared as Shop Local Month.

“The federal presence in Minnesota has hit local businesses where it hurts most,” said Walz. “Minnesotans have a long tradition of supporting one another in peaceful, actionable ways. Choosing to shop local, grab takeout, or visit a neighborhood store is one way we can stand with our neighbors and continue to show the nation what it means to respond with care and decency.”

Julian Ocampo, co-owner of the local Los Ocampo Mexican restaurant chain, spoke at the event. Los Ocampo has restaurants at Cretin and Marshall avenues, and at Dale Street and University Avenue. The owners have had to close their doors at times.

“Right now, many immigrant-owned businesses and communities are carrying a heavy burden,” said Julian Ocampo, co-owner and vice president of Los Ocampo. “People are hurting, families are being disrupted, and workers are living with fear while trying to care for their loved ones. We are living this reality every day.

When our neighbors are afraid to leave their homes, whether it’s to go to work, take their kids to school, or carry out daily life activities, it affects everyone in the community.”

Operation Metro Surge has created a whole new set of challenges for businesses. Elected officials and business community leaders are scrambling to help. But some business owners question if it is enough.

Throughout the region, many immigrant-owned or immigrant-staffed businesses have closed their doors or limited services. That’s because immigrant workers stay home or have been detained. Federal officials contend they are apprehending people with criminal backgrounds, who are in the country illegally. Many business advocates are challenging those claims.

Another issue is harassment of different kinds. Some business owners say they have been targeted, either by Department of Homeland Security, ICE or people who are opposed to aiding immigrants. And in other cases, business owners have had to emphatically deny that they are ICE supporters in the face of community anger.
Business leaders say they are deeply worried that the long-term effects of the immigration crackdown will be felt for months to come.

“As immigrants, we are the targets,” said Va-Meng Thoj, executive director of the Asian Economic Development Association (AEDA). AEDA works with about 150 Asian-owned businesses in the Little Mekong area of University Avenue.

Business owners and employees are very afraid and don’t know what to do, Thoj said. Several AEDA member businesses have been entered by ICE agents. Employees have been detained at work and at their homes.
“Everyone is on edge right now,” Thoj said.

Business groups are distributing “know your rights” information. Both Midway Chamber of Commerce and Summit Hill Association and Macalester-Groveland Community Council recently held seminars to educate businesses on their rights and what to do if ICE is at the door.

Attorney Daniel Calderon said business owners need to learn their rights. An array of issues have to be considered, including public versus private areas, the type of warrant that allows ICE agents to enter a business, and whether or not a private parking lot can be used for ICE staging. Calderon led the legal forum organized by the district councils.

Business owners are within their rights to not answer questions from ICE agents, he said. Business owners can also legally post signs banning ICE agents and can ask people to leave their premises.

Chad Kulas, executive director of the Midway Chamber of Commerce, said he has heard business owners compare the economic downturn to that of the COVID-19 pandemic and the civil unrest in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd. The Chamber is hearing from restaurants, construction work sites and other places where workers are staying home.

Kulas had a meeting recently at Cancun Grill, a restaurant that had been raided days before. A security guard lets patrons in. The phone rang during the meeting but wasn’t answered because the restaurant has had harassing calls.

“Imagine that,” said Kulas. “Usually a restaurant would assume a call is from a customer wanting to place a takeout order.”

The Chamber has issued a statement saying that “immigrants are essential to our communities and we stand with employees, employers, and neighbors as they confront unreasonably aggressive enforcement tactics of federal immigration enforcement agencies.” The statement also called on elected officials to enact national immigration policy that unites people rather than dividing them.