More than a dozen Latino-led organizations are asking state lawmakers for policy changes and funding to quell the impact caused by President Donald Trump’s months-long immigration crackdown in Minnesota.
The Minnesota Latino Leadership Alliance, a coalition of 13 organizations across the state, held a news conference Tuesday, the first day of the legislative session, to lay out legislative priorities aimed at helping immigrant communities recover from Operation Metro Surge. The alliance was joined by St. Paul DFL Reps. María Isa Pérez-Vega and Jay Xiong.
The immigration operation saw about 3,000 federal agents flood Minnesota starting in December, causing fear and chaos across the state by separating families, arresting U.S. citizens, racially profiling residents and fatally shooting two civilian observers, among other conduct.
Although Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, announced last week that the operation will scale back significantly and leave a small number of agents in the state, immigrant communities remain afraid as they contend with millions in lost revenue for workers and businesses, said Irma Marquez Trapero, a co-founder of the alliance and the executive director of LatinoLEAD, a network of business and community leaders that advocates for the Latino community.
“We stand in the shadow of recent events that have shaken our communities to our core,” Marquez Trapero said. “The heavy toll on our community is really profound, from family members being afraid to go outside to small businesses and streets being empty.”
Among the alliance’s policy priorities is the STAR Act, which would prohibit state and local governments from collaborating or sharing data with federal immigration enforcement authorities. It would also limit institutions like schools, universities and health care facilities from interacting with immigration enforcement authorities without a warrant signed by a judge.
An earlier version of the legislation was introduced by DFL lawmakers Rep. Sandra Feist of St. Paul and Sen. Omar Fateh of Minneapolis in 2024, but did not gain traction and was never heard in committee in either chamber.
“It was not treated as urgent, but today, the urgency is undeniable,” said Aaron Sepulveda, legislative and policy director with the Minnesota Council on Latino Affairs. “We’ve seen the abuses of federal power, we’ve seen families, workers and businesses suffer from these abuses and we’ve seen fear replace trust in our public institutions and public servants.”
The bill would prohibit state and local law enforcement from honoring ICE detainers, which are requests from the federal government for local authorities to hold inmates for up to 48 hours after their release in a local criminal case so federal authorities can interview or take them into custody for immigration issues without a judicial warrant. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison issued a legal opinion last year declaring detainers illegal under Minnesota law.
The bill would also prohibit 287g agreements, which allow county sheriffs to enter into contracts with the federal government to help with immigration enforcement. Several counties in Minnesota have already entered such agreements.
RELATED STORIES
Asked whether the STAR Act has support among her colleagues, Pérez-Vega said she and other members of the Minnesota People of Color and Indigenous Caucus are working to get their support.
“The Senate has a [DFL] majority by one vote, so we’re going to have to encourage our senators to step up in those decisions and be in solidarity,” she said. “But in the House, it’s still tied, and we’re doing our best to really prepare ourselves to push what we can through these committees to even get them on the floor right now.”
Financial impact on businesses
The alliance’s priorities also included requests for funding from the Legislature to help immigrant businesses recover from losing millions of dollars because of immigration enforcement activity. The city of Minneapolis, for example, estimated $47 million in lost wages for people who were afraid to leave their home for work, and $81 million in lost revenue for restaurants and small businesses as customers dwindled for fear of being caught up in immigration sweeps, which targeted immigrant neighborhoods and business corridors.
Alma Flores, who heads the Latino Economic Development Center, said her organization raised $1.4 million to help provide relief for Latino businesses, but the amount raised dwarfed the demand for relief. Between Feb. 2 and Feb. 10, about 385 businesses applied for relief totaling $4.5 million.
Among the applicants, Flores said just 7% of the businesses have been operating normally since the surge began, and about a third of them had to close their business indefinitely.
“These small business owners are employers, taxpayers and community anchors who keep city corridors and rural areas thriving,” Flores said. “When Latino customers and workers are forced into hiding, storefronts are empty, jobs disappear and neighborhoods destabilize.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz last week announced a proposal for $10 million in one-time emergency funding to provide relief to businesses impacted by the immigration operation, which would take the form of forgivable loans ranging from $2,500 to $25,000.
As for the Legislature, Xiong said he is still gathering input from city, business and community leaders in Minneapolis and St. Paul as he drafts legislation that would provide emergency economic relief. Marquez Trapero said the alliance is also doing outreach to Latino businesses and workers around the state to determine a figure.
“Even though our organizations and communities were preparing for a moment like this, the toll of what is needed surpasses what we thought was needed,” she said. “We are reaching out to community to figure out that support, but it’s too early to understand what that will look like.”
Correction: This story has been updated to correct the name of the legislation. It is the STAR Act, not the North STAR Act.
