This story was co-published with Puente News Collaborative, a bilingual nonprofit newsroom, convener and funder dedicated to high-quality, fact-based news and information from the U.S.-Mexico border.
At Hector’s Mariscos restaurant in the heavily Latino and immigrant city of Santa Ana, sales of Mexican seafood have slid. Seven tables would normally be full, but diners sit at only two this Tuesday afternoon.
“I haven’t seen it like this since COVID,” manager Lorena Marin said in Spanish as cumbia music played on loudspeakers. A U.S. citizen, Marin even texted customers she was friendly with, encouraging them to come in.
“No, I’m staying home,” a customer texted back. “It’s really screwed up out there with all of those immigration agents.”
Increasing arrests in California by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have begun to gut-punch the economy and wallets of immigrant families and beyond.
» Read more about: Immigration Raids Disrupt Businesses in Southern California and Beyond »
