Despite drawdown, Smitten Kitten remains committed to helping immigrant neighbors
It's a new month, and for many immigrant families unable to work during Operation Metro Surge, rent is extra stressful around this time.
Operation Metro Surge ended around mid-February, and there has been a significant drawdown of federal agents, but the need for rent and grocery assistance remains high.
Smitten Kitten, an adult store in Uptown, has been at the forefront of mutual aid for immigrant neighbors in Minneapolis since Operation Metro Surge began in December.
After Renee Good's killing, Smitten Kitten began collecting basic needs donations and were overwhelmed by the support from those who donated. However, Anne Lehman, who runs the mutual aid services for Smitten Kitten, says the influx brought unwarranted attention to the store.
"ICE [agents] were picking up what we're doing and we started to get phone calls, saying, 'I have some bad news, someone has been followed,' from just getting their basic human needs met," said Lehman.
Smitten Kitten decided to move donations to other sites for safety and security concerns, and moved their focus to just raising money. They are helping over 100 people pay their rent and get groceries through a GoFundMe account that sends the money to rent assistance programs and by collecting cash.
"This GoFundMe is exploding, it's incredible. It's also days of waiting through bureaucracy to receive that digital money, which is why we started doing cash in the first place, because it's immediate. There's no trail to vulnerable people and we're not holding it. At the end of the night, it's all gone," said Lehman.
Despite the drawdown of federal agents in Minnesota, their efforts remain the same, but the giving is dwindling and they need people to continue to generously donate.
"Basically, the level of attention has gone down, but the need has drastically increased," said Lehamn.
On the city level, St. Paul redirected $1.42 million to bolster emergency rental assistance. Minneapolis approved $1 million of extra rental assistance.