Somali businesses struggle during the Minneapolis ICE crackdown

In a once-bustling hub of Somali entrepreneurship in south Minneapolis, an eerie silence has descended. Karmel Mall, home to over a hundred small businesses offering everything from clothing and traditional foods to professional services, has seen foot traffic dwindle to almost nothing in recent weeks as fear of immigration enforcement spreads through the community.

“It’s been like this for three weeks now,” said Abdi Wahid, who works at his mother’s convenience store in the mall. “Everywhere it’s all been closed up, all the stores.”

The mall serves as both an economic center and cultural heart for Minneapolis’s Somali population, the largest such community in the United States. Beyond retail spaces, it houses a mosque, Quran classes, and residential units, making it a comprehensive community center.

What was once a vibrant marketplace now sits largely dormant. On a recent afternoon, most businesses remained shuttered. In the few open shops, vendors sat alone, waiting for customers who rarely appear. The hallways, typically filled with conversation and activity, were quiet except for occasional chatter between neighboring shopkeepers and the soft sound of Quran recitations from some stores.

The precipitous decline in business coincides with the Trump administration’s “Operation Metro Surge,” an immigration crackdown that has sent waves of anxiety through immigrant communities nationwide. But business owners at Karmel Mall say the Somali community has been particularly targeted following President Trump’s recent inflammatory rhetoric.

Since December, Trump has repeatedly singled out the Somali community in his speeches, calling them “garbage” and claiming “they contribute nothing.” These comments followed a government fraud case in Minnesota that included several Somali defendants, which Trump has used to characterize the entire community.

Wahid, a U.S. citizen, noted that early afternoons at his family business typically brought 15 to 20 customers. Now, they’re lucky to see one. The fear, he explains, extends beyond immigration status.

“I think that caused a lot of people to not even want to come,” Wahid said, referring to recent incidents including the killing of Renee Good and an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid at Roosevelt High School in south Minneapolis. Many community members worry they could be targeted “just because of their race.”

Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin responded in a statement that law enforcement uses “reasonable suspicion” to make arrests under the Fourth Amendment. “A person’s immigration status makes them a target for enforcement, not their skin color, race or ethnicity,” she said.

The economic impact has been devastating for small business owners. Upstairs at Karmel Mall, Bashir Garad runs Safari Travel & Accounting Services, where he’s seen a dramatic decline in customers. Even more concerning, existing clients—most of whom are East African and U.S. citizens—are canceling upcoming trips out of fear they won’t be allowed back into the country.

“They see a lot of unlawful things going on in the city,” Garad explained. “They look at something bad, and then they think some bad things may happen to them.”

Garad expressed frustration with what he sees as unfair treatment of the entire community. “The government is not doing the right thing,” he said. “If there’s a criminal, there’s a criminal. Regardless, there are ways to find the criminal, but to marginalize the community’s name, and a whole people, that is unlawful.”

Electronics vendor Ibrahim Dahiye reports his business is down by $20,000 monthly since the crackdown began. While winter is typically a slower season for retailers, he said the current situation is unprecedented. His employees are too afraid to come to work, and he now carries his passport at all times as a precaution.

Dahiye and other business owners are now pooling resources just to make rent payments, unsure how long they can sustain their businesses under these conditions. The economic ripple effects extend beyond Karmel Mall, impacting suppliers, service providers, and the broader Twin Cities economy.

“I don’t know what we can do,” Dahiye said. “We believe in Allah, but we can’t do anything.”