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Residents urge Maple Grove to join coalition, seek rental aid after immigration enforcement activity
Summary
Several residents told the city council March 2 that immigration enforcement activity has left neighbors afraid to leave home and asked Maple Grove to join the Coalition of Cities for Safe and Stable Communities, create rental-assistance measures, and take other protections for affected residents.
At a March 2 Maple Grove City Council meeting, multiple residents urged the council to join the Coalition of Cities for Safe and Stable Communities and to adopt local measures to protect residents affected by recent immigration enforcement activity.
Chris Asp said the council should stop reading speakers’ addresses aloud because doing so could endanger people who have fled unsafe situations. "I recently relocated to the northwest suburbs after fleeing an unsafe living situation," she said, describing difficulty finding work and short-term housing and noting that some apartment buildings require paid parking stalls. Asp asked the council to consider how its decisions have consequences for vulnerable residents.
Other commenters described both fear and community responses. Andy Campbell said residents needed a transparent venue for questions and answers about public safety and asked whether a work session on perception of public safety had the three votes needed to proceed. Judy Corradi and Carmen Ferguson urged the council to join the coalition to secure policy protections and to develop plans to safeguard the election process; Corradi said the coalition would provide additional ideas for protecting residents and elections.
Several speakers called for rental-assistance programs. Drae Solberg and Bryana French described neighbors who are staying home out of fear and volunteers providing mutual aid, and both urged the city to create eviction or rent-assistance measures. Nicole Mukanda asked the city to make an explicit statement recognizing harm caused by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to join the coalition, to consider a rental assistance program, and to ban ICE officers from wearing masks in Maple Grove.
Speakers gave specific local examples: Sean Wade described a cleaning-business employee who feared leaving home and said his mother purchased groceries for workers too afraid to come to work. Several commenters asked the council to act rather than rely solely on state or federal responses.
City staff did not record a formal response or action on the requests during the meeting. The council received the public comments and continued with other agenda items; there was no vote recorded on coalition membership or on creating a city rental-assistance program at this meeting. The council’s next regular meeting is scheduled for March 16, 2026.
