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All this week, the Trump administration has been levying unsubstantiated claims about fraud at Minnesota child care centers run by Somali residents. The renewed attention on Minnesota follows a recent surge in activity from ICE in the Twin Cities. Minnesota Public Radio's Clay Masters looks at how it's affecting minority-owned businesses there.
CLAY MASTERS, BYLINE: Just a few days ago, Nasrulah Mohamed showed up to work and found someone had broken into the day care center where he serves as director.
NASRULAH MOHAMED: One video made by a specific individual made this all happen. We've been receiving hateful messages through our voice notes, threatening us the past couple of days.
MASTERS: Mohamed is referring to a video that went viral over Christmas. A MAGA-connected social media influencer visits a number of Somali-owned day care centers in the Twin Cities, accusing them of not providing services to any children, despite receiving public funds. It was shared widely on social media by the likes of Vice President JD Vance and Elon Musk. The latest attention on Minnesota comes on the heels of the Trump administration sending more ICE agents to Minneapolis and St. Paul in December. President Trump has regularly lashed out at Minnesota's Somali population, the largest in the country. Here he is last month.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I don't want them in our country. I'll be honest with you, OK. Somebody would say, oh, that's not politically correct. I don't care. I don't want them in our country. Their country is no good for a reason.
MASTERS: Most Somali residents in Minnesota are U.S. citizens, either born in the country or naturalized. In addition to the day care funding pause, the Small Business Administration agency has suspended nearly 7,000 Minnesota borrowers amid suspected fraudulent activity. All this increased attention is affecting business.
Over a recent weekday lunch hour, it's pretty quiet at Karmel Mall in Minneapolis. This is the largest Somali American shopping center in the country, with hundreds of shops. There are restaurants, clothing stores, barbers. Abdisalan Abdi (ph), runs a money transfer business. He walks down a hall where many of the business doors are locked up. He says many Somalians fear being questioned.
ABDISALAN ABDI: Everything, you know, is closed. They normally open every store. But for right now, everything is closed.
MASTERS: Abdi worries if he'll be able to make rent this month. He says he always carries his legal documents.
ABDI: I have a passport card. So I carry it, you know, since the operation started.
MASTERS: Yeah.
It's not just Somali-owned businesses. Daniel Hernandez runs Colonial Market and Restaurant in a Latino neighborhood in Minneapolis. I stopped by on a recent weeknight.
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DANIEL HERNANDEZ: This should be the peak time for people getting out of work, coming over, buying. How many people do you see? Nobody.
MASTERS: He says sales are down over 80%, as customers and employees are concerned about being questioned.
HERNANDEZ: They're afraid to come over here, even if they're legally here. But they're afraid because they take you first, and then they ask questions.
MASTERS: Hernandez has been delivering groceries to Latino residents who are afraid to leave their house. Bruce Corrie is an economist at Concordia University who studies the economic contributions of African, Latino, Asian and Native American communities in the twin cities. He says 1 out of every 5 workers is from these communities, and they generate over $50 billion in income.
BRUCE CORRIE: The irony is that this important economic asset is under threat and fear and uncertainty because of recent events, and it's coming at a time where Minnesota cannot afford this economic reality.
MASTERS: Corrie says the state needs the base of workers to be churning at full capacity and not hiding in fear and uncertainty.
For NPR News, I'm Clay Masters in Minneapolis.
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