Staying afloat during ICE occupation: Small businesses struggle, yet continue to offer mutual aid
- Deanna Pistono
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
Anne Lehman and other staff at The Smitten Kitten, an adult toy store on Lake and Lyndale in Uptown Minneapolis, have a motto that’s served them well. That motto? “No one is coming to save you.”
It’s this understanding – that people have to take caring for their communities into their own hands – that pushed Lehman and The Smitten Kitten towards mutual aid in the face of the metro’s ICE occupation. For two months, people dropped by the store with donations of essential items and cash – all of which went to those impacted by ICE. Throughout the process, the privacy of those seeking aid was kept in mind. Lehman, who has become the “face” of Smitten Kitten’s community organizing, said they destroyed pages of records to protect the privacy of those who showed up. Even with these measures, however, people were still followed out of the store by ICE agents.
In part because of these safety concerns, Smitten Kitten has since moved away from in-person donations to focus on rent support, including a GoFundMe set up in partnership with Neighbors Helping Neighbors, a mutual aid network.
Arbeiter Brewing, a Korean immigrant-owned business near Lake Street, has also been involved in mutual aid. “We provided safe space for other organizations to come in and do fundraising,” said owner Kate Winkel. “A lot of artists and organizations came in and did (events with) 100% proceeds going back to the community for rent relief.” Arbeiter, Winkel added, also donated all proceeds from a batch of beer to families impacted by Operation Metro Surge, who had had to shelter and close their businesses.
Even with the efforts to keep their communities afloat, the financial toll of Operation Metro Surge is heavy. Though the declared end of the operation was on Feb. 12, businesses are still feeling the financial impacts. Data from the city of Minneapolis released on Feb. 13 estimated that restaurants and small businesses in the city had lost up to $81 million in revenue, while lost wages for people who were afraid to leave their houses were estimated at $47 million per month.
“There's days where I didn't get any sales and I still had to pay employees,” said Getinet Alemu, owner of Flow Hair and Beauty, a store that specializes in wigs, hair products and barber supplies. “Minnesota’s just been through so much. After George Floyd, Uptown, it just hasn't been the same. And then (with the ICE occupation) on top of this, it just made it even worse.”
Alemu said he got calls from past customers who said they would love to show up, but feared they would be detained by ICE. Those calls included those who are American citizens.
Philanthropic foundations and community networks are raising funds to assist businesses in the city and state with staying afloat. The Minneapolis Foundation accepted applications from small businesses until March 4, and will be awarding anywhere from $2,500 to $10,000 for small businesses from a $4 million pool. Main Street Alliance, a nationwide nonprofit focused on small businesses, raised funds through their Open Tomorrow Fund for Minnesota businesses this February, and will soon be distributing those grants.
Minneapolis and Minnesota governments have also responded. On Feb. 23, the Minneapolis City Council voted in favor of allocating $7 million to the Small Business Resiliency Fund. Earlier that same month, the council also allocated $1 million to rental assistance. Gov. Tim Walz proposed a $10 million one-time emergency relief package on for Minnesota businesses, and Hennepin County’s Small Business Recovery Fund will be taking applications from March 18 to March 25 for grants, which will award businesses anywhere from $3,000 to $10,000 from a $2 million fund.
Still, the question remains – will all this be enough?
For Shawn Phetteplace, national campaigns director for Main Street Alliance, it’s a “down payment” at best.
“The governor (has) proposed some stuff, philanthropy is moving, but it's not the kind of velocity or size necessary to really address what's needed in this moment,” Phetteplace said, noting that businesses shutting down may create a chilling effect. “If you have block after block of vacant stores, who's gonna be the business that's gonna be one to be the first to start over?”
While Lehman at The Smitten Kitten understands there are limits on governmental power, they stated there is limited trust on the ground in government agencies.
“It all ties into politics of feeling like the neighborhood has been neglected for a long time after the uprising and the murder of George Floyd,” said Lehman. “The relationship between the people who are supposed to protect us and help us is so broken. It's been a struggle, even with some of the relief packages that are being talked about. I'm like, ‘Do I look like I have time to fill out an application right now?’”
Lehman is also wary of whether Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who they say once attempted to give The Smitten Kitten a Narcan vending machine in exchange for a “photo op,” will be able to adequately support families who are suffering financially.
“He has this eviction moratorium sitting on his desk right now,” said Lehman of Frey. “And I'm expecting him to make the wrong decision, because that's how it's unfolded in the past.”
Frey in fact did veto a bill this past Wednesday that would extend time for those being served eviction from 30 to 60 days, but instead proposed an additional $1 million in rent assistance.
“I know people who have sold their cars to pay for their lawyer fees and now they're stuck,” said Lehman. “People needing childcare, people needing mental health, tutoring – because all these kids just missed two weeks of school or two months of school and they were behind to begin with. There is so much fundraising that needs to be done.”
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