Business is caught in the immigration crackdown.

I'm David Brancaccio in Los Angeles, following deadly shootings by immigration agents in Minnesota.

More than 60 CEOs there have now signed and sent a letter calling for federal, state, and local officials to de-escalate.

Now, this is a turnabout. Last week here, we had discussed so many Minnesota

business leaders staying quiet amid the situation. Among the CEOs who put their names on this new

letter, William Brown of 3M, Corey Barry of Best Buy, General Mills Jeff Harmoning, and Target's

incoming chief executive, Michael Fidelke. Advocates for stricter border enforcement argue the policies over time could mean better jobs for legal workers,

but in Minnesota, some businesses have closed or reduced hours with employees and customers

concerned about getting caught up in raids and protests.

Kirstie Marone is a correspondent with Minnesota Public Radio, same company

as us. She's been reporting from St. Cloud, population 70,000, a city that includes a large

Somali American population. Hi, Kirstie. Hi, David. Thanks for having me. You've been going into

businesses facing immigration searches and detentions. What are you hearing?

The owners I spoke to say they're struggling with two problems. First, businesses that cater to immigrants are seeing fewer customers.

People are scared to leave their homes and venture out for fear of being stopped and detained by ICE.

I stopped in at New York Gyro, a popular restaurant in St. Cloud.

Usually at lunchtime, it's full of hungry customers craving its halal pita sandwiches and kebabs.

But last week...

As you can see, very slow, very, very slow, especially for the last couple of weeks.

That's co-owner Haseeb Asim.

He told me that the recent ice activity in St. Cloud is scaring people away.

We have a lot of mixed customers, like Mexican, Somali, and white.

...