January 29, 2026 – As the Senate moves toward a Friday government shutdown after Democrats blocked a package of funding bills today, food businesses and farmworker groups are pushing Democrats to stick to their demands for  new restrictions on immigration agents and enforcement.

Nationally renowned chef Sean Sherman, who owns the restaurant Owamni in downtown Minneapolis, is circulating a letter for food businesses, restaurant owners, chefs, and allies to sign and plans to deliver it to Senator Tina Smith (D-Minnesota) in Washington, D.C., today.

The letter includes 10 demands, including the immediate withdrawal of federal immigration agents from the Twin Cities and an end to the detention of individuals with no criminal background. Trump’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has sent around 3,000 federal agents to Minnesota since the start of “Operation Metro Surge” in early December. Agents have arrested more than 3,000 individuals DHS claims are “criminal illegal aliens” and killed two American citizens during protests against the surge. On Wednesday, a federal judge said Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has violated close to 100 court orders in a month.

“No industry built on human labor can function under terror,” the letter reads. “Our industry has long partnered with law enforcement, complied with immigration regulations, and fed communities of every political, cultural, and religious background. We recognize what fair and constitutional enforcement looks like—and this is not it.”

Sherman told a local newspaper that one of his employees, an immigrant from Ecuador who had legal authorization to work in the U.S., had been detained by federal agents. And Caroline To, the co-owner of Howard’s Bar in Stillwater, Minnesota, also posted on Instagram an email she wrote to Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota)—the top Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee—detailing how ICE operations are disrupting restaurant operations and harming workers.

On Capitol Hill Wednesday, Klobuchar said she opposes any further increases to ICE funding, called for Kristi Noem to be removed, and said ICE agents should be required to remove their masks and use body cameras.

“I cannot state this more unequivocally,” she said. “ICE must leave Minnesota.”

Also this week, the United Farm Workers asked its supporters to call their senators to urge them to vote no on additional funding for ICE and Border Patrol. The Coalition on Human Needs, which works on hunger and nutrition, sent out a similar appeal.

The actions follow a press conference hosted by Minnesota’s state lawmakers last week, where the head of the Minnesota Farmers Union and a top agriculture official warned ICE’s surge in the state would disrupt food supply chains. (Link to this post.)

The post Food Businesses and Farm Groups Call on Congress to Rein in ICE appeared first on Civil Eats.

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