ICE Has Created a Disaster in Minnesota; The Financial Services Industry Can Help

**WASHINGTON **– Today, a coalition of 52 economic justice, civil rights, labor, faith, and other groups sent a letter to the financial services industry urging lenders, debt collectors, and credit bureaus to provide economic relief to Minnesotans who have been financially devastated by the overly aggressive surge of militarized activity in that state by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

“The ICE presence in Minnesota has had a devastating impact on the financial lives of people in that state, creating the type of economic hardships we usually see after a natural disaster,” said Chi Chi Wu, director of consumer reporting and data advocacy at the National Consumer Law Center. “People can’t work at businesses that are shuttered, and customers aren’t shopping in neighborhoods that are being overrun by federal forces. It’s imperative that financial services companies grant affected communities relief until they can recover from this ICE-created disaster.”

The letterasks trade groups representing lenders from all sectors, as well as debt collection and credit reporting companies, to:

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Establish well-publicized programs to provide impacted Minnesotans with forbearances, payment pauses, and other hardship relief for mortgages, auto loans, credit cards and other debt obligations;

    
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Pause negative credit reporting when hardship relief is in effect, per well-established standards for natural and declared disasters; and

    
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Create a centralized hardship contact so individuals affected by disasters can have one point of contact for seeking assistance from all of their creditors.

Examples of financial distress include immigrants and others who have lost income and face eviction when family members are detained by ICE or when they cannot go to work for fear of being detained. Economic turmoil has also affected small businesses that have had to shut down or have lost customers who are avoiding areas affected by ICE invasions.

“The Trump Administration’s actions are causing chaos, fear, and destabilizing communities in Minnesota and nationwide,” said Nikitra Bailey, Executive Vice President of the National Fair Housing Alliance. “It is imperative for the financial services industry to proactively support families by protecting their credit profiles from being negatively impacted so that they are not shut out of future housing, credit, and employment opportunities because of ICE actions that are out of their control.”

“Banks, lenders, debt collectors and the credit bureaus all have a chance to do the right thing at this moment by providing hardship relief to those victimized by the ICE-created economic disaster in Minnesota,” said Elizabeth Goodell, supervising attorney at Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid. “This will cost very little but help impacted Minnesotans tremendously.”

Related Resources

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Letter Urging Creditors & Credit Bureaus to Help Minnesota Consumers Impacted by ICE Surge, Feb. 9, 2026

    
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Statement: Federal Lawlessness in Minneapolis, Feb. 2, 2026

    
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NCLC.org: Disaster Relief Resources

    

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Letter Urging Regulators to Protect Credit Scores of Survivors of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, October 31, 2024

    
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Letter Urging Regulators to Protect Credit Scores of Maui Wildfire and Hurricane Idalia Survivors, October 5, 2023

Since 1969, the nonprofit National Consumer Law Center® (NCLC®)has worked for consumer justice and economic security for low-income and other disadvantaged people in the U.S. through its expertise in policy analysis and advocacy, publications, litigation, expert witness services, and training.