Any ideas for repair my Elite controller?

One in every of my cats knocked my controller off my desk some time again and the d-pad has been like this ever since. The d-pad itself continues to be useful, however clearly feels bizarre sunken in like this. You’ll be able to see within the blue circle that there's little steel tabs that I assume are supposed to provide it resistance and springy-Ness however are actually performing as clips holding the d-pad down. I've tried a bit to work it free, however apprehensive about making it worse.

Any ideas are drastically appreciated!