Minneapolis Post Modern Times to close after free meals for all except ICE Modern Times Cafe owner Dylan Alverson says his Minneapolis restaurant will close by the end of the year after running as a free and donation-based eatery open to everyone except ICE. Modern Times Cafe, a Minneapolis restaurant that rebranded as a free and donation-based eatery open to everyone except ICE agents, will close for good by the end of the year, owner Dylan Alverson announced. Alverson wrote on social media that he has spent the last six years trying to prove Modern Times can continue to exist. He said he plans to spend the next two months celebrating the 16-year-old business and discussing ways for a business like his to keep going. He added that the only way for places like Modern Times to exist in the future is to actively challenge the reasons why they can no longer exist.Modern Times Cafe Closes After Political StanceThe closure marks the end of a restaurant that drew national attention for its unusual model and its political stance. In January, Alverson announced on Instagram that his business, renamed Post Modern Times, would operate as a free and donation-based restaurant. Everyone would be welcome except ICE, he said, in protest of Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in Minneapolis. We absolutely cannot go on as we have, Alverson wrote at the time.I am sick of generating money for the soldiers in our streets and for a government that will not protect us, a government who is actively inflicting daily harm on its citizens. Effective tomorrow we are done making money for the fascists that occupy our city, he wrote. The move came partly in response to the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti and drew attention after people mourned at a makeshift memorial for Pretti.Alex Pretti, 37, was shot dead by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis on Jan. 24. The restaurant had already been a neighborhood fixture for years before it dropped prices and adopted the donation model. In July, Alverson told The New York Times he was operating under a zero profit margin and hoped his place could serve as a model for other restaurants.Donation Model Faces Staff And Customer ChallengesIf I can create a fundraising mechanism that can raise money to provide hospitality, we can take that program and add restaurants to it, he said. Alverson acknowledged the free model was taxing for his staff. Customers waited up to two hours for a meal, half of which would usually be given for free. Neighbors also expressed concerns that homeless and drug-addicted people would take advantage of the offer.Asked about that criticism by Fox News Digital, Alverson stood by his remarks to The New York Times and said the bigger issue was other restaurants that were struggling. The closure also follows a broader debate in Minnesota over immigration enforcement. The state Senate voted to ban ICE from wearing masks and to allow residents to sue for constitutional violations.Immigration Enforcement Impacts Minnesota Restaurant BusinessesRestaurant owners in the state have said ICE enforcement is crippling their businesses, with some saying conditions feel like a return to COVID-era disruption. Alverson said he will spend the coming months celebrating the business and talking about how similar operations might survive. The restaurant's run as a free eatery began with a promise to welcome everyone except ICE, a stance that made it a symbol of protest in Minneapolis.Now, as the year ends, the cafe that tried to eliminate prices is preparing to close. Alverson's posts and interviews show a business that became known as much for its politics as for its food. The decision to shut down comes after years of effort to prove the model could work. Alverson said the challenges facing restaurants like his are bigger than one business and require active resistance to the conditions that make them unsustainable.