When Immigration and Custom Enforcement stepped up operations in Maine on Jan. 20, some immigrant-owned storefronts shuttered.
While the surge in ICE raids is now said to be over, many shop owners report business is down and customers are still afraid to return.
At Tres Leches Cake’s Flor Mexican restaurant in South Portland, Latino music played 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 made huaraches, a bun topped with black beans, chicken, salsa and avocado, as online customers came in for their orders.
In the two days since the business reopened, Gavilan said the shop is 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 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 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 played 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 said Black and brown customers who would normally stop by for lunch are afraid to come in. While the business is struggling, 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.
The presence of ICE has also impacted a wide range of businesses in the Portland area.
According to a recent survey by the Greater Portland Council of Governments, business owners say fear, anxiety, staffing issues and lost revenues are still on their minds in the wake of stepped up ICE enforcement operations.
About three-quarters of respondents said that fear of ICE by employees, customers and community members prompted people to avoid downtown Portland.
Nearly half said that revenue losses, employee absenteeism, transportation issues and decreased productivity also affected their businesses.
Ken DeSimone, president of Springborn Staffing, said two Somali temporary workers were so distraught when ICE was outside their apartment building that he arranged safe rides for them.
“These two people are females. So there was a male of Somali descent at another worksite and he offered to pick them up. He did that for the rest of that week,” DeSimone said.
Most of the respondents were small-business owners like Michelle Fox, who owns Fox Carpentry and General Contractors with her husband.
Fox employs three people and relies on a lot of subcontractors for custom residential and commercial projects. But she said subcontractors have forced them to pause projects because their employees who are immigrants are sheltering in place.
“We like to use the people we know and trust. We would rather not try to find brand new subcontractors we haven’t worked with before. So it’s between that and pausing on a project for a couple weeks, which could be huge for a small business and for customers,” Fox said.
About a third of respondents reported diverting resources for safety protocols and staff training.
Up to 20% said the protests, strikes and street closures impacted operations and safety.
Between 10 and 15% of survey respondents said they supported ICE operations in Maine.
Two-hundred and forty-five businesses participated in the survey. The survey was taken between Jan. 27 and Feb. 4.
This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.
