The attention of the nation turned to Minneapolis in early January as the heavily militarized federal ICE enforcement and violent raids escalated in Minnesota, with three shootings by agents, two of them deadly, by mid-month. But the impacts of the government’s Operation Metro Surge had already been creating serious problems for CVT’s Minnesota-based clients before the breaking news stories and glaring headlines of 2026 were hitting the front pages.

It was in early December 2025 that many Twin Cities-based clients were already unable to leave their homes for weeks for fear of being detained by ICE. The team at CVT’s St. Paul clinic began to notice lower attendance at in-person sessions and had to cancel some group and community activities because of low turnout. Clients, although they were asylum seekers lawfully present in the United States, were no longer comfortable going outside their homes to buy food, go to work, go to worship services, go to their therapy sessions. Unmarked vehicles with masked men in them were showing up in their neighborhoods; people were starting to be taken off the streets.

The St. Paul clinicians began to hear from clients that they were running out of groceries. Alarm was growing rapidly. Colleagues on the advancement team worked to increase donations for CVT’s Client Assistance Fund and also stepped up on a volunteer basis, after hours and on weekends, to support the delivery process. The team quickly set up a system to determine needs and begin placing orders to be delivered. Almost immediately, they started to get two or three requests for food each day.

Meeting this need meant a lot to clinicians. As clients were “no longer able to leave the house, no longer able to go to work,” said Anne Eichmeyer, program supervisor, “to be able to offer this resource – one we haven’t been able to offer for people – has been a very important and truly beneficial thing for both clients and staff.”

This is an emergency and we need to step up.”

-Elana Schwartzman, head of audience engagement

For non-clinicians, it was crucial that clients, but also colleagues working in the midst of the clients’ difficulties, had support. “This is an emergency and we need to step up,” said Elana Schwartzman, head of audience engagement. She commented on the anxiety caused by the situation where suddenly clients’ most basic needs were no longer being met. She felt that clinical colleagues should not “ . . . be shouldering all of this stress and all of this trauma and increased workload.”

With more support, the clinical team focused on identifying the needs from clients and put those into a spreadsheet. Then the volunteer employees would place orders and find volunteers to do pick-ups and delivery. The needs began to be met.

Then Came the Violent Surge

As the new year arrived, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security fully scaled up its ICE surge, sending more than 3,000 heavily militarized and armed agents into Minneapolis. Fear increased dramatically. More and more clients’ needs shifted to basic necessities: they were running out of food.

Things kept getting worse. The ICE arrests and violence escalated, including the deadly shooting of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents. Six Minnesota-based clients were taken by ICE: two when they showed up at work and two when they went to their standing ICE check-ins. All had lawful immigration status in the United States.

“We were starting to get 10-15 requests each day,” said Laura Kuhlmann, development director. With the urgency came additional complications. “It wasn’t only about doing the purchasing and delivery – there were communication challenges if we didn’t have an interpreter available who spoke a client’s language,” she said.

And federal agents modified the types of tactics they were using, changing what they wore and the vehicles they drove, even pretending to be work crews or community members, which made the delivery process more complicated all the time. As ICE efforts intensified and patrols increased outside clients’ homes, people were not willing to answer their doors to anyone they did not know.

“Then as ICE started impersonating volunteers delivering food, it was getting harder and harder to actually connect with the clients and get the food to them,” Laura said. “They were not opening their doors to anyone.”

Then as ICE started impersonating volunteers delivering food, it was getting harder and harder to actually connect with the clients and get the food to them.”

-Laura Kuhlmann, CVT development director

The level of need and urgency was also escalating. “Sometimes we got a request where the client hadn’t eaten in two days,” Elana said. They worked to triage the most urgent needs and get them out immediately.

One client lived in an apartment building which was repeatedly targeted by ICE. “During our virtual meetings together there would be ICE near her building; they would be flying drones outside her window. It was just really scary,” Anne said. “No one in her home was leaving. Multiple people in her apartment building had been taken by ICE.”

During our virtual meetings together there would be ICE near her building; they would be flying drones outside her window. It was just really scary.”

-Anne Eichmeyer, CVT program supervisor

Anne said it was a terrifying time. “I heard from many staff that every visit with every client began to feel like a crisis visit,” she said. “It didn’t matter if it was a therapy visit or a social work visit. It felt like for every client we saw, the same things kept coming to the surface in all their appointments: fear of leaving the home, fear of ICE, heightened PTSD symptoms, and worry about meeting their basic needs during this time. It was a really, really heavy time.”

Minnesota Steps Up

To provide more support, Mwamini Bundi, office and volunteer coordinator, put out an online call for more volunteers. The message was simple: Please help our clients during the ICE surge.

The response was immediate. Nearly 500 people completed the application, far more than the small team was able to process; in fact, the team had to shut down the form because of the high numbers. “We had no idea we would get this incredible response,” Mwamini said. “This shows that people out there – they love one another, they care about one another.”

This shows that people out there – they love one another, they care about one another.”

-Mwamini Bundi, CVT officer and volunteer coordinator

One long-time CVT volunteer had been planning to take a break from the role last fall, but once he saw what was going on with ICE raids and violent arrests, he told Mwamini to keep him on the roster. “I can see the love people have for their community,” Mwamini said. “People care about immigrants.”

“Through this whole thing, at CVT and outside of CVT, responding to what ICE was doing has been at a community level,” Laura said. “It felt like it was also helping the clients know that what was happening to them, that a lot of our community wasn’t okay with that.”

Thank you for showing me what being an American really is.”

-CVT client

As one client said, “Thank you for showing me what being an American really is.”

Another client said, “This is why I love Minnesota.”