Last week, Hastings Police Chief Dave Wilske confirmed that Hastings Police had seen Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) in the community.
Hastings Police Department (HPD) responded to a suspicious vehicle report in the Kari Park neighborhood which turned out to be federal immigration officials.
“ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] has been in the community a couple of times, but I don’t have an accurate number,” said Wilske.
The report was not the first time HPD has been called on federal officials in recent weeks.
“Over the past weeks, some calls of suspicious vehicles have been agents,” said Wilske.
HPD protocol when called on federal agents is to keep the peace or simply leave: “We wouldn’t impede. We’re there just to keep the peace,” said Wilske.
A previous example of HPD being called on federal officers was when HPD was called for a suspicious vehicle report on Jan 21 when ICE agents were parked in the Hastings Walmart parking lot eating lunch.
After the Monday suspicious vehicle call, the City of Hastings released a statement urging residents to call local law enforcement if they feel unsafe and that “The City of Hastings and the Hastings Police Department do not participate in or assist with federal immigration enforcement,” according to the statement.
According to Mayor Mary Fasbender this statement was released because of the widespread rumors about ICE, not because of a specific incident.
“We had been hearing things in the community that they hadn’t been feeling safe […] It’s the rumor mill of ‘ICE was here.’ It makes people think that ICE is in Hastings and they are everywhere and that’s just not factual,” said Fasbender.

Dakota County concerns
While Dakota County continues to detail the ongoing effects to the county from Operation Metro Surge, as seen in the letter sent to Gov. Tim Walz, President Donald Trump and Minnesota’s congressional delegation, many of those effects have been seen to a lesser extent or not at all within Hastings.
Key concerns of Dakota Count Commissioners that prompted the letter included rising truancy rates, business closures, and increased demand on public safety.
A new concern is the spike in SNAP and cash assistance applications. Starting in late December, Dakota County saw a massive increase in the number of applications for SNAP and cash assistance.
Dakota County received a daily average of 196 SNAP/cash assistance applications in January, more than triple the December daily average of 58, which itself was a 20% increase from the last half of November.
This spike is even beyond the rise in applications seen during the COVID-19 Pandemic, said Assistant County Manager Marti Fischbach.
Board Chair Laurie Halverson called this spike “A road for crisis,” indicative of many in the county who are now struggling to make ends meet.

Effects in Hastings
Some of the commissioner’s concerns have not been shown in Hastings.
For example, ISD 200 attendance rates show no sign of rising truancy.
“Our attendance for December and January this school year is consistent with the same months last school year,” said Superintendent Dr. Kristine J. Wehrkamp Herman in a statement to the Hastings Journal.
Public spaces like the Pleasant Hill Library saw increased events and overall attendance from last January, according to Mary Beth Schubert, director of communications at Dakota County.
Hastings Family Service, which serves as the backstop for many families in need, had to change how it operates in the face of Operation Metro Surge, however.
Hastings Family Service has seen ICE vehicles parked outside of their offices downtown but has not interacted with federal officers.
That presence of ICE, however, is enough to have a chilling effect for attendance: “The more presence there is, the fewer people come in,” said Sutton.
With fewer families coming into the nonprofit seeking help, food instead has to go to those families.
“We’ve adapted some of our processes to make sure food is getting out into the community,” said Sutton.
This shift in operations has come during a sustained period of record-breaking need for the non-profit.
The non-profit saw a 39% increase in full orders of food for families in 2025, shattering previous records of families in need, which itself has been increasing steadily over the past five years.
Participation in food programs has more than tripled since 2019, with 25,000 individuals participating in food programs last year alone, up from 7,000 in 2019.
As to what spurned this rise in need, Sutton referenced how the pandemic and the inflation that followed it, as well as recent cuts to programs like SNAP and Medicaid from the Big Beautiful Bill, have “disproportionately affected people who are already struggling financially to make ends meet,” said Sutton., “It’s been a lot longer than six weeks.”
Sutton also echoed the Dakota County Commissioners’ concerns regarding helping families paying rent.
“We want to head off a crisis of homelessness,” said Sutton.
Increased calls for assistance from the nonprofit for emergency rent and utility assistance have sharply increased.
“That has been a real crisis,” said Sutton.
Utilities, and internet in particular, has been a focus of the nonprofit so students who might be staying home from school, can still participate.
Hastings Family Service’s goal, according to Sutton, continues to be providing basic human rights to those in the community and beyond: “All people deserve safe housing and food for their families.”
Restaurants are another area where the effects of immigration, especially the fear surrounding those operations, can be seen in town.
For the last month, El Mexican has been locking their front door, and having patrons ring a doorbell to get into the restaurant. A posting prominently displayed saying the building is private property in both English and Spanish now hangs in the window of their front door.
“We keep the doors locked for everybody’s safety,” said David Perez, manager at El Mexican.
While ICE has not visited the restaurant, stories and rumors of ICE coming into restaurants to arrest patrons and staff has led many to fear leaving their homes.
“A lot of our Hispanic community, our customers, they don’t come out anymore,” said Perez.
Across the street at The Quarry Taphouse, Shift Lead Lacey Quist said it was business as usual with no particular change to staff or patronage.
“They just haven’t come here yet,” said Quist with a shrug.
Several local chains—even those that have been conspicuously closed in recent weeks like the Hastings McDonald’s—did not comment, instead referring to their corporate communication which then did not respond to calls for comment.
At Las Margaritas, the restaurant has been short-staffed for weeks, according to Kash Naeem, a server there.
“People are scared to leave their homes,” said Naeem. “We make it work with short staff […] It’s not the end of the world.”
While none of the restaurants in Hastings that provided comment for this article had actually interacted with ICE, rumors about their appearance and speculation about large black vehicles with out-of-state license plates has run rampant both in-person and online.
“We all feel a little helpless right now,” said Sutton. “But crisis breeds creativity and brings the community together.”
The best way to support Hastings Family Service at this moment is monetary donations and to volunteer. Opportunities for both can be found on Hastings Family Service’s website at hastingsfamilyservice.org