Immigrant-run businesses are making some hard decisions to claw out of the financial hole caused by the three-month immigration crackdown in Minnesota.

Workers and customers are returning, allowing some places to reopen. But growing piles of bills have made it harder to resume business the way it was before Operation Metro Surge.

Value Foods African Market owner Abdou Jaiteh reopened his grocery and restaurant but had to lay off three employees to stay afloat. He may still have to close his Brooklyn Park store and face a future with only his Brooklyn Center location.

Jaiteh and many other business owners are hopeful that the federal surge, which brought 3,000 agents to Minnesota, is for the most part over — and with it the massive disruption to commerce.

In January, federal agents began blocking Jaiteh’s Brooklyn Park parking lot, photographing employees and questioning patrons of the store, one of the biggest African grocers in Minnesota.

The officers were there every day, sometimes multiple times. Sales fell 60%. Now, Jaiteh has a pile of overdue bills from food suppliers.

Miguel Hernandez and his family, who own the El Tejaban Mexican Grill in Richfield, are facing similar strains. As the crackdown intensified, the restaurant lost 11 of its 12 cooks, locked the door and served only burritos.

Last week, the full menu was reinstated.

“To have 150 seats and to lose 80% of your clients in one month is devastating,” Hernandez said.

As calls for Minnesotans to patronize immigrant businesses grew, Hernandez said El Tejaban made enough money to make payroll and to pay a few vendor bills.

“We’re still week-to-week, but there’s some light at the end of the tunnel,” Hernandez said.

Workers, even those legally in the U.S. or citizens, were afraid if they left their homes they could be detained. They now are coming back to their jobs.

Researchers at North Star Policy Action and the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research reported Wednesday that workers in the Twin Cities lost $106 million in wages due to Operation Metro Surge.

With workers on hand, more restaurants could reopen, including Los Ocampo on Marshall Avenue in St. Paul. Maya Cuisine along the immigrant-rich Central Avenue corridor in northeast Minneapolis is phasing back to three days a week.

Quruxlow Restaurant on Lake Street, which has a large base of Somali customers, returned to full staff last weekend in time to fulfill Ramadan orders of meat pies and egg cakes.

Traffic at Hmong Village has picked up as well, after a quarter of the vendors, most of whom are U.S. citizens, closed during the surge’s peak, general manager Terry Vang said.

Of 180 loan clients at Metropolitan Economic Development Association (MEDA), about 20% said in a recent survey they will likely be late on payments and in need of new repayment plans because of the crackdown, said Catherine McCarthy, development director for the nonprofit. More than 52% of overall clients reported being hurt by immigration crackdown activity.

The nonprofit also is fielding calls from nonclients for advice and has enlisted 140 consulting volunteers to help small businesses find solutions.

The Minnesota Consortium of Community Developers (MCCD) estimates small companies like Value Foods African Market and El Tejaban lost between 50% and 90% of sales due to immigration crackdown actions.

Overall, shops and restaurants along immigrant corridors such as Robert Street, University Avenue and the East Side in St. Paul, as well as Lake Street and Central Avenue in Minneapolis, have lost $213 million due to ICE over 10 weeks, according to an analysis of metro-area data by MCCD. The financial toll has spurred legislators, mayors, block clubs and business and religious leaders to action.

“Organizations across Minnesota [are] very concerned about the small businesses in our state and the loss in overall economic activity due to circumstances out of their control,” MCCD policy director Kari Johnson said.

This week, the MCCD, chambers of commerce, MEDA and the state’s 35 other community lenders known as CDFIs are asking the Legislature for $100 million to create small-business relief grants. State Sen. Susan Pha and Rep. Cedrick Frazier have agreed to introduce bills.

More than 20 mayors from Twin Cities suburbs also asked for help.

Gov. Tim Walz has proposed a $10 million fund to help small businesses survive the effects of the immigration crackdown.

State aid is likely to take months, said Carl Swanson, a community lender strategist.

He said interim help from foundations, philanthropists, religious groups and others will be crucial to bridge businesses until government help arrives.

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