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After federal retreat, Twin Cities' stores and restaurants getting it back together, workers & customers returning
(no paywall and no gimmicks like "gimme ur email first" at this MSN-hosted article)
After federal retreat, Twin Cities’ stores and restaurants piecing businesses back together, Minneapolis Star Tribune, 3/1/26
. . . Workers and customers are returning, allowing some places to reopen. But growing piles of bills have made it harder to resume business the way it was before Operation Metro Surge.
. . .
Workers, even those legally in the U.S. or citizens, were afraid if they left their homes they could be detained. They now are coming back to their jobs.
Researchers at North Star Policy Action and the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research reported Wednesday that workers in the Twin Cities lost $106 million in wages due to Operation Metro Surge.
With workers on hand, more restaurants could reopen, including Los Ocampo on Marshall Avenue in St. Paul. Maya Cuisine along the immigrant-rich Central Avenue corridor in northeast Minneapolis is phasing back to three days a week.
Quruxlow Restaurant on Lake Street, which has a large base of Somali customers, returned to full staff last weekend in time to fulfill Ramadan orders of meat pies and egg cakes.
Traffic at Hmong Village has picked up as well, after a quarter of the vendors, most of whom are U.S. citizens, closed during the surge’s peak, general manager Terry Vang said.
. . .
The Minnesota Consortium of Community Developers (MCCD) estimates small companies like Value Foods African Market and El Tejaban lost between 50% and 90% of sales due to immigration crackdown actions.
. . . Workers and customers are returning, allowing some places to reopen. But growing piles of bills have made it harder to resume business the way it was before Operation Metro Surge.
. . .
Workers, even those legally in the U.S. or citizens, were afraid if they left their homes they could be detained. They now are coming back to their jobs.
Researchers at North Star Policy Action and the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research reported Wednesday that workers in the Twin Cities lost $106 million in wages due to Operation Metro Surge.
With workers on hand, more restaurants could reopen, including Los Ocampo on Marshall Avenue in St. Paul. Maya Cuisine along the immigrant-rich Central Avenue corridor in northeast Minneapolis is phasing back to three days a week.
Quruxlow Restaurant on Lake Street, which has a large base of Somali customers, returned to full staff last weekend in time to fulfill Ramadan orders of meat pies and egg cakes.
Traffic at Hmong Village has picked up as well, after a quarter of the vendors, most of whom are U.S. citizens, closed during the surge’s peak, general manager Terry Vang said.
. . .
The Minnesota Consortium of Community Developers (MCCD) estimates small companies like Value Foods African Market and El Tejaban lost between 50% and 90% of sales due to immigration crackdown actions.
More: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/after-federal-retreat-twin-cities-stores-and-restaurants-piecing-businesses-back-together/ar-AA1XiVqW
Much of the rest of the articles is about not being able to pay all of their past-due bills
I think the returning workers and customers are taking a very big risk unless they look like their ancestors came from Norway.