When Immigration and Custom Enforcement stepped up operations in Maine on January 20, some immigrant owned storefronts shuttered.
While enhanced ICE raids are now said to be over many shop owners report business is down and some customers are still afraid to return.
At Tres Leches Cake’s Flor Mexican restaurant in South Portland, Latino music plays for the first time in two weeks.
Rachel Gavilan, the owner’s daughter, said two of her uncles were arrested by ICE and they temporarily closed the shop to protect their Hispanic customers.
“What my family and uncle say, it’s not if you have citizenship or not it’s really about what your skin tone is,” Gavilan said.
She said once the ICE operations slowed down, customers began leaving supportive notes on the shop’s door and her family felt it was time to open again.
In the kitchen shop owner Flor Contreras is making huaraches, a tortilla topped with black beans, chicken, salsa and avocado, as online customers come in for their orders.
Gavilan said in the two days since they reopened they are busier than usual, there are more online orders than ever, and customers are filling the small dining room.
But the same cannot be said for other immigrant owned shops.
“My store for now is really down,” Maria, a grocer from York County, said.
Maria said she was forced to close for 10 days during the ICE surge. She has since reopened but said on this day she’s only had one customer.
“Nobody is coming. Nobody. Everyone is scared. They don’t want to go out,” she said.
Maria works a second job as a cleaner and said her husband has a weekend shift at a factory in a neighboring town, but she worries about feeding her six children and paying her mortgage. She said it’s been difficult to sleep.
A similar scene plays out at the Burundi Star Coffee Shop in Portland.
Chris — not his real name — said he knows four people who were arrested by ICE.
He says Black and brown customers who would normally stop by for lunch are afraid to come in. While the business is struggling he said he remains grateful to be in the U.S.
“It’s a dream. Now we just want to live the American Dream like, that’s what we fight for,” Chris said.
For now, that means carrying his work permits and passport wherever he goes and hoping business picks up.
This story is a production of the New England News Collaborative. It was originally published by Maine Public.
