Loeffler Says Small Business Administration to Relocate Minneapolis Office Amid Anti-ICE Hostility

Minneapolis has seen continuing confrontations between law enforcement officers and demonstrators in the days since an ICE officer fatally shot a female driver.

Kelly Loeffler, administrator of the Small Business Administration, speaks during a news conference in Washington on Oct. 27, 2025. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times

The Small Business Administration (SBA) will relocate its Minneapolis district office space, SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler announced on Jan. 10.

“Following the events of this week, and the overwhelming local hostility toward Immigration and Customs Enforcement, I have ordered [SBA] to begin relocation of our agency’s Minneapolis district office,” Loeffler wrote in an X post.

Loeffler announced the move after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer fatally shot 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in a Minneapolis neighborhood on Jan. 7.

The Department of Homeland Security said Good was driving an SUV at the ICE officer, prompting him to fire in self-defense. Critics, including Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, have challenged the department’s characterization of the shooting.

Loeffler said the SBA would not send its resources to communities that defy federal law enforcement efforts to locate and detain criminal illegal immigrants.

“We will relocate our offices to cities that comply with federal law—and take seriously their responsibility to promote public safety on Main Street,” she said.

In the days since Good’s death, Minneapolis has seen growing demonstrations and confrontations between protesters and law enforcement officers.

Law enforcement officers employed crowd control munitions during a confrontation with demonstrators outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building on Jan. 9.

Thousands of protesters filled the streets near an ICE office space in Minneapolis later on the night of Jan. 9, according to a statement the Minneapolis Police Department provided to The Epoch Times. It was the third straight night of demonstrations following Good’s death.

“Some people threw snow, ice and rocks at officers, police vehicles and other vehicles in the roadway,” the city of Minneapolis said in another statement.

One police officer sustained minor injuries but did not seek medical treatment.

The police department eventually declared the gathering around the ICE facility an unlawful assembly and repeatedly advised those in the crowd to disperse.

As the demonstration grew increasingly confrontational, an additional 200 law enforcement officers, including state troopers and conservation officers, responded to the scene.

Law enforcement officers ultimately detained 30 people in connection with the street demonstration near the Minneapolis ICE facility on Jan. 9.

The Minneapolis Police Department said in a preliminary assessment that suspects forced their way into the Canopy Hotel and damaged windows and walls at the Renaissance Minneapolis Hotel, causing an estimated $6,000 in damage.

Jacki Thrapp, Savannah Hulsey Pointer, John Fredricks, and Nathan Worcester contributed to this post.