ICE Raids Somali-Owned Restaurants Across Minneapolis Spark Viral Video, Poll, Backlash

ICE agents have conducted enforcement actions at Somali-owned restaurants, cafes and shops across Minneapolis, producing a viral video of officers inside a Cedar-Riverside eatery and triggering sharp drops in customers that threaten jobs and household stability.

A Facebook video from Dec. 9 shows two masked agents walking through Smart Restaurant and Cafeteria, chatting with and questioning customers, and owners say that visibility helped accelerate a downturn. Abdiladif Ahmed, who runs Smart Restaurant, said, “ICE has visited my restaurant multiple times, leading to a significant decline in customers,” and added, “Some employees chose to leave, and the situation escalated when the video went viral on social media. It was an unexpected and difficult experience.”

Community leaders and business owners report immediate consequences: some employees stayed home, small businesses curtailed hours, families missed medical appointments and people avoided mosques. Farhan Ahmed, owner of Capitol Cafe, said he worries not only for his business but for children watching their families cope, adding, “I believe many of them will need therapy following the crackdown.” East Cafe owner Abdikafi Gelle described the squeeze on thin margins: “The financial strain has been immediate, with costs for rent, supplies, and utilities remaining the same while revenue falls.”

Local reporting and community statements place the number of people detained so far at “more than 20,” though officials have not released a definitive tally. The New York Times described a broader directive that aimed to target hundreds of undocumented Somali immigrants in the Twin Cities and said roughly 100 officers and agents from around the country were brought in for the operation. That reporting also noted the operation focused largely on people with final deportation orders but could sweep up others seeking legal status.

The scene in neighborhood hubs has shifted. Karmel Mall, once a one-stop center for clothing, food, barbers and a mosque, now shows closed stalls and padlocked shutters. Residents at Riverside Plaza and in Cedar-Riverside report a new caution: passports and immigration papers are carried more visibly, and the usual chatter has been replaced by silence.

The enforcement activity has drawn political and industry responses. An opinion leader writing in Bring Me The News warned Minneapolis could be treated as a “test case,” arguing immigrant-owned restaurants are down 60-70% and estimating $10 to $20 million in weekly losses to the food economy; those figures are presented as his assertions. A resident quoted by CNN criticized presidential rhetoric that targeted Somalis, saying, “It’s very unfortunate for someone in the highest office in the world to generalize and demean a whole community by saying that they are garbage – they’re of no good.”

For workers in the food sector, the immediate risks are lost shifts, interrupted paychecks and curtailed safety nets when customers vanish. Business owners face fixed overhead while revenue collapses. The next steps for reporting and for the community include seeking authoritative counts from ICE or DHS, court records for detained individuals, and verification of economic-loss estimates. Whatever the legal rationale for enforcement, the human and workplace fallout is clear: bakers, cooks, servers and small employers are bearing an abrupt cost, and the neighborhood’s fragile ecosystem of labor, commerce and faith life is under strain.