Call Us MN: 24/7 confidential, bilingual crisis line (651) 772-1611
The unprecedented surge in immigration enforcement by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has created a crisis that extends far beyond immigration policy. It is actively dismantling the safety net for survivors of domestic and sexual violence across Minnesota.
Together, Esperanza United¹ and Violence Free Minnesota² are witnessing an ecosystem collapse where the fear of state violence now outweighs the fear of domestic abuse. This terror is forcing survivors into the shadows, suppressing participation in public life, and pushing already strained resources to a breaking point.
The economic crisis: Rent, evictions, and the February deadline
The most immediate feedback from our collective network of advocates and member programs is the sudden, catastrophic loss of income from a pervasive fear of workplace raids and racial profiling that is trapping families in their homes. As one family advocate shared, “Participants just aren’t in a place where they can go more than a few weeks without earning an income before facing eviction.”
With rent coming due for the first time under this enforcement escalation on February 1, we are facing an immediate wave of housing instability. Many economically vulnerable Minnesotans are risking life and liberty just to work, while others are terrified to leave their doorsteps. Those who lose their housing will be forced into the streets, vulnerable to both ICE and further exploitation, or into courthouses for eviction proceedings where detention risks are high.
Domestic violence has consistently been a leading cause of homelessness for women. Today, survivors attempting to escape financial abuse are facing an additional, devastating barrier. To prevent a crisis that will further strain state and local systems, we call for:
- an immediate statewide eviction moratorium,
- emergency financial assistance specifically designated for rent and utilities, and
-
increased funding for victim services.
Without this stabilization, families are forced to choose between potential deportation at their workplace or eviction from their safe harbor.
The safety paradox: When fear forces survivors back into harm
This economic insecurity is exacerbated by a dangerous safety paradox: survivors are choosing to remain with harm-doers rather than risk seeking help. Across the state, domestic violence programs report a severe drop-off in participation among survivors of color, while shelters are full or closing intake due to the emergency.
As Vivian Huelgo, President and CEO of Esperanza United, emphasized regarding this escalation:
“The military occupation of Minnesota… has placed domestic and sexual violence victims at heightened risk inside and outside their homes. When domestic and sexual violence victims fear detention or family separation, they are less likely to seek help. When children are subjected to armed enforcement activities in their neighborhoods, schools, and school transports, the trauma lasts a lifetime. This is not public safety. This is targeted harm.”
Standard safety planning is proving ineffective because the government is not adhering to its own legal standards. Agents have been documented breaking into homes without warrants and detaining U.S. citizens, destroying the trust required for effective advocacy. Victims are avoiding hospitals for forensic exams, and fear is permeating schools, parks, and clinics.
This chilling effect is documented in the Fear and Silence Report from the Alliance for Immigrant Survivors (AIS), which found that 75.6% of advocates reported that survivors have concerns about contacting police, and 70.3% reported concerns about going to court, with ultimately 50% choosing not to do so at all.
Collateral damage: Children and the workforce
The damage extends into children’s lives and the systems meant to support them. We are receiving reports of ICE agents camped outside in-home bilingual daycare centers, causing parents to pull children from care and lose critical slots. Children kept home for safety are losing access to school lunch programs, a nutritional lifeline, forcing advocates to deliver meals to homes where families are living in hiding.
This is re-traumatizing children who came to Minnesota specifically to flee violence. Recent enforcement actions have created a crisis within our schools. The detention of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos illustrates a stark reality: classrooms are becoming pipelines to detention centers.
Even following Liam’s release, instability in his district has deepened. Earlier this month, two more students—a second-grader and a fifth-grader—returned from the Dilley detention center in Texas with a heartbreaking discovery. While detained, they identified a fourth missing student, a classmate no one had been able to locate until that moment. We have reached a point of total systemic failure where we are literally relying on traumatized elementary schoolers to locate disappeared students.
Although the school has now connected this newly found family with legal counsel, they remain in detention. Compounding this injustice, Texas lawyers told MPR that Minnesota families at Dilley were shipped out of state without being provided the required legal counsel, a gross violation of due process that is leaving children languishing in confinement.
The scale of the disruption is staggering; in one small school alone, 23 parents have been detained, and staff members report being stopped by authorities daily. This is a systemic assault on the right to an education.
Simultaneously, our workforce is experiencing a secondary crisis of vicarious trauma. Advocates, many of whom are from the communities they serve, are fielding desperate calls from survivors terrified to take sick children to the hospital or worried about losing electricity. Staff are working remotely for their own safety, a logistical challenge that weighs heavily on their mental health and threatens to undo years of community trust-building.
Conclusion
Violence Free Minnesota and Esperanza United stand united in supporting the City Council of Minneapolis’ resolution calling for a statewide eviction moratorium. We urge your office to champion the necessary financial support for services, rent, and utilities to stabilize these vulnerable families while pushing for the oversight required to restore the rule of law.