In the week since President Donald Trump’s inauguration, Minnesota social media accounts have been flooded with unverified reports of ICE sightings everywhere from restaurants to supermarkets to homes.
The rumors have even affected the state’s largest hospital group, which this week put out a statement saying its members had not seen any unusual activity.
Much of the anxiety stems from a flurry of Trump actions, including orders to declare an emergency at the border, end birthright citizenship, shut down an app for requesting asylum appointments and expand a process for quick deportations.
“Our phone is ringing all day with people who are worried,” said Graham Ojala-Barbour, a local immigration attorney.
“The most palpable thing that I’ve seen so far is the fear, which I think is understandable given the rhetoric from the government,” he said. “The impact so far is that the harmful rhetoric and sort of policy statements are causing fear and anxiety.”
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Ojala-Barbour has been tracking a bill recently passed by Congress that would require undocumented immigrants arrested for theft or violent crimes to be held in jail pending trial. The Laken Riley Act cleared both the House and Senate, and Trump is set to sign it.
The bill requires the Department of Homeland Security to detain an immigrant if they are charged with certain criminal offences. Those include theft, shoplifting, burglary, assault against law enforcement or any crimes that result in death or serious bodily injury of another person.
Ojala-Barbour said the law could affect people accused of crimes even if charges aren’t filed. For example, an undocumented immigrant could be arrested for shoplifting but later found innocent, he said.
“Under this law, that person is now subject to mandatory custody by ICE, meaning, even if the immigration judge wants to release them, they’re not allowed to,” Ojala-Barbour said.
No raids, but an uptick in numbers
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been posting the agency’s national arrest numbers on X, formerly known as Twitter. From January 23 to 27, there have been nearly 4,000 ICE arrests across the country, with the highest number of arrests on January 27.
ICE’s St. Paul field office and national office in Washington, D.C., did not return messages seeking comment.
ICE contracts with three jails in Minnesota to house detainees: the Sherburne County jail in Elk River, the Freeborn County jail in Albert Lea and the Kandiyohi County jail in Willmar.
Freeborn County Sheriff Ryan Shea said the jails that ICE contracts with can’t provide information about the number of ICE detainees they’re housing. But he confirmed that the Freeborn County jail has seen an increase in detainees in the past week.
“We kind of expected that there we would see something like this,” Shea said.
Immigration attorney Abigail Wahl, owner of Puerta Grande Law Firm, said while ICE has made targeted arrests recently, she hasn’t seen evidence of the organized raids many fear. Similar arrests of immigrants with criminal records occurred during Trump’s first presidency and even Biden’s.
However, something different Wahl said she’s seen is that some newer arrivals — immigrants here for less than two years — are being detained at their check-ins with ICE.
“It’s not that we’ve heard every single person that’s gone to a check-in has been detained. But yeah, I know of at least two cases personally,” Wahl said.
Rumors hurt business
Some of the rumors of ICE sightings posted on social media have mentioned Lake Street, the hub of Minneapolis’ Latino community. Several business owners have jumped on social media to respond, worried the rumors, if not debunked, could drive customers away.
Daniel Hernandez, owner of the Colonial Market chain of stores, addressed some of the rumors in a 15-minute video on his Facebook page, where he said it’s true customers weren’t coming in due to increased fear and anxiety.
Hernandez credited social media rumors as the root cause for the panic he’s seen in the community while trying to share accurate information about how ICE typically operates.
“If you haven’t done anything, try to live a more free life,” Hernandez said in his video. “Because the only thing you’ll do is live in fear and you can’t do that only God knows what will happen.”
Hernandez finished the video by inviting the community back to Colonial Market on Lake Street and announced that he would set up a podcast with an immigration attorney in the coming weeks where he’d also take questions from community members.
Barber Jhonny Chacaguasay, who has worked on Lake Street for two years, said many of his customers are on high alert.
“People have called and texted me asking if I’ve seen that they’re detaining people here,” he said.
Jovita Morales, founder of the Minnesota Immigrant Movement, said she’s spent much of the last week helping community members verify some of the rumors they’ve seen.
Morales said she’s advising community members to be careful when sharing unverified rumors online since they’re quick to spread and lead to misinformation.
She said the majority of rumors she’s dealt with could be easily debunked by calling the business in question. In a recent case, Morales mentioned a call she got about ICE at a store in St. Paul.
“It’s created a panic in the community,” Morales said.
She said the community’s biggest concerns are raids over individual arrests.
“It’s interesting when they [community members] say ‘they came to my house’,” Morales said. “We haven’t heard of a case yet where they go for one person and end up taking others, although it does happen, it’s nothing new.”
Even without raids, Morales said people are beginning to stay home more due to the fear of being detained which has caused some to decide against going out even if it’s for groceries.
“The local stores are being impacted because the people with so much fear don’t even want to go out shopping or anything,” Morales said.
The rumors may even be affecting whether people seek medical care.
The Minnesota Hospital Association (MHA) said it is aware of reports that federal immigration officials may have stepped up activity in and around health care facilities in the Twin Cities since last week. But the organization, which counts more than 150 health care facilities across the state among its members, said none have had “notable interactions” with immigration officials.
The group added that immigration enforcement at hospitals has been “rare” in the past and that its member hospitals would continue to treat all who need care.
Stepping up outreach, resources
Centro Tyrone Guzman, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit that provides services to the Latino community, has also seen an increase in calls about Trump’s executive orders on immigration, said Angela Jimenez, the organization’s administrator.
Some of Centro’s clients in Mankato reported a spike in racism after Trump was reelected, Jimenez said. Centro is working on a plan to address concerns from the Latino community.
Another nonprofit serving immigrants, Communities Organizing Latino Power and Action (COPAL), is also stepping up its outreach. COPAL will be hosting five classes to educate community members about their rights and how they should handle interactions with ICE officials. The first session will begin on February 6 from 6 to 7 p.m. at 3521 E. Lake St., Minneapolis. COPAL will post information about future sessions on their website.
COPAL and several other organizations that are mostly based in Minnesota launched the Immigrant Defense Network in November 2024. The network works to organize and defend vulnerable immigrant and refugee communities. Trump’s re-election was a catalyst for starting the network, said Wendy Zuniga, COPAL’s communications director.
Navigators are available on the phone to help individuals verify reports of ICE arrests, she said. The phone number to call is 612-249-8736.
She also said that COPAL is leading an event on February 14 at the Minnesota Capitol rotunda and the theme will be “Love Your Immigrant Neighbor.” The event is meant to celebrate the contributions of immigrants and share resources.
Staff writers Katrina Pross and Mohamed Ibrahim contributed to this report.
