LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – As immigration enforcement efforts intensify across the country many communities have become more fearful of the unknown.
In Las Vegas, Hispanic business owners said that fear is keeping customers away.
“It is a big decline, people are like, you know, terrified to go out,” said manager of Esmeraldas Café, Rene Bustamente.
At Esmeralda’s Café, the lunch rush isn’t what it used to be. Bustamente explained, the restaurant has lost about 60% of its customers in recent weeks.
“We have few customers, and they leave thinking that, you know, they are going to be deported or anything like that,” he said.
Bustamente said things got worse after a customer walked in and announced immigration agents had been spotted just blocks away.
“It was in shock because, you know, everybody got really scared and they left without saying anything and it’s a little frustrating,” he said.
Now, Bustamente said most of the business comes from takeout orders. He explained customers are too afraid to dine in. And inside the kitchen, he has a fraction of his usual staff working.
“They left because the situation, we only have like one or two employees.”
A few miles away, Surtimax Mexican Market have been faced with the same issues. Manager Yuridia Ramirez explained many customers are now requesting home deliveries.
“Our business is mostly Hispanic people and right now we’re struggling a little bit because they don’t want to come out, where our sales have dropped drastically,” Ramirez said.
The market even added extra security after customers asked for locked doors.
“We got an automatic lock just to make sure that the business is safe for people who are undocumented to come in,” she said.
The Nevada Restaurant Association said the fear is rippling across the Valley and even those with legal status are now too afraid to show up to work.
“There’s has been an effect on the workforce, the people are scared,” said Peter Saba, government affairs senior manager for the Nevada Restaurant Association. “TPS, DACA, asylum applications, work or authorized visas like those are still being threatened under this administration.”
The Nevada Restaurant Association also encourages business owners to know their rights and encourages them to conduct I-9 reviews even for long-term staff.
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