**The Weight of Worry: How ICE is Haunting Minnesota’s Thriving Tech Scene**
I’ll be honest, Minneapolis is not the same city it used to be. The once-thriving tech scene, full of innovation and progress, is now shrouded in uncertainty and anxiety. It feels like we’re living in a state of constant siege, with the threat of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids and detentions looming over our heads.
I’ve spoken to eight founders and investors who are all struggling to cope with the constant presence of ICE. Their stories are heart-wrenching – tales of friends and colleagues being harassed by agents, neighborhoods being labeled “high-risk,” and the emotional toll this is taking on families and businesses.
“It’s like living in a war zone,” said Scott Burns, a local investor. “People are exhausted. Focus is hard when you’re worried about what’s going to happen to your teammates or family members.”
I heard a similar story from a Black founder who chose to remain anonymous. “They’re causing trauma wherever they go,” he said. “It’s like they want us to feel like we’re targets, always on the run.”
The impact of ICE’s presence is more than just anxiety – it’s affecting the way people live, work, and interact with one another. “It’s like we’re living in a police state,” said Mary Grove, another investor. “We’re constantly on edge, wondering when the other shoe will drop.”
Despite the pain, the Minneapolis tech community is finding ways to support each other. We’re buying groceries for one another, watching each other’s kids, and just generally being a community. And you know what? We’re not giving up.
Efraín Torres, a Latino founder who’s had to take on the extra stress of working from home to avoid ICE, put it best: “We’re doing what we can to help each other out. It’s like we’re a big, dysfunctional family.”
We’re calling on our leaders to stand up and say, “This is not okay.” We need bold action to stop these raids and restore that sense of safety and dignity we used to take for granted.
As one founder so eloquently put it, “We’re not going to let ICE break us. We’ll find a way to make it work, to build a community that’s stronger and more resilient than ever.”
For now, we’ll just keep on building, even in the face of adversity.
