Chef Sean Sherman has a problem that didn't exist a month ago. One of his employees at Owamni, his acclaimed Minneapolis restaurant, was detained by federal immigration agents. The employee had legal authorization to work in the U.S. Sherman isn't alone in watching his business destabilize. Across Minnesota, restaurant owners and farm operators are watching their workforce disappear into federal detention—and they're asking Congress to stop it.
Since early December, the Department of Homeland Security has deployed roughly 3,000 federal agents to Minnesota as part of "Operation Metro Surge." The enforcement push has arrested more than 3,000 people. A federal judge recently found that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has violated close to 100 court orders in a single month.
Sherman is circulating a letter signed by food business owners, chefs, and farmworker advocates, demanding immediate action. The letter's core argument is blunt: "No industry built on human labor can function under terror." The signatories are asking Congress to withdraw federal agents from the Twin Cities, end detention of people with no criminal record, and require ICE agents to wear body cameras and remove their masks during operations.
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Start Your News DetoxThis isn't a fringe complaint. Caroline To, co-owner of Howard's Bar in Stillwater, Minnesota, posted publicly about how ICE operations are disrupting her restaurant. The Minnesota Farmers Union warned last week that the enforcement surge threatens food supply chains across the state. The Coalition on Human Needs, which focuses on hunger and nutrition, is asking supporters to contact their senators.
Senator Amy Klobuchar has responded directly. On Wednesday, she called for the removal of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and said she opposes any additional ICE funding. "ICE must leave Minnesota," she stated.
The letter Sherman is delivering to Senator Tina Smith today frames the issue in practical terms: the food industry has worked within immigration law and served communities across political and cultural lines. What's happening now, the signatories argue, doesn't look like constitutional enforcement. It looks like disruption—of businesses, of supply chains, of the people who grow and prepare the food Americans eat.
The Senate is moving toward a government shutdown as Democrats block funding packages. What happens to Operation Metro Surge in the coming days may depend on whether Congress listens to the people who know what happens when you remove workers without warning.
