A little slice of heaven awaits kids heading to Mercado Central, a marketplace at the corner of Lake Street and Bloomington Avenue in Minneapolis.
Vibrant colors scream inside Dulceria La Piñata, one of dozens of Latino-owned businesses inside el Mercado. The shop is filled with imported Mexican candy, savory snacks, and star-shaped pinatas. Hanging from the shop’s ceiling, a variety of piñatas are on display.
But these days, hardly anyone is buying a piñata, said shop owner Leopoldo Sanchez.
“People are afraid to go out, they are afraid to spend, they are afraid of what will happen to their future,” Sanchez said, speaking in Spanish. “There is a lot of uncertainty among Latinos.”
Their fear, many business owners said, stems from President Donald Trump’s executive orders on immigration. The administration aims to scale up deportations and remove undocumented people from the country. The orders also include allowing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to go into churches, schools, hospitals and courthouses to arrest immigrants, places that were previously off-limits.
Those orders have resulted in the Twin Cities’ Latino immigrant communities opting to stay home and shop less, business owners said. And these shop owners are feeling an economic pinch.
Sanchez said he normally sells three to four piñatas a week. In a month, he’ll sell 12 to 15 piñatas. Since Jan. 20, he has sold only one. He’s held off on ordering new ones, he said.
Other business owners said their revenue has dropped 40 percent, even up to 80 percent for some. A few shop owners said they noticed a drop in foot traffic the day after the election. Some business owners said once Trump was sworn into office, their businesses saw revenue drop precipitously.
Daniel Hernandez, owner of Colonial Market and Restaurant on Lake Street near 21st Avenue South, said the supermarket’s sales have dropped “dramatically” by 40 percent. He said he noticed that foot traffic dropped one week before Jan. 20, Inauguration Day. Starting on that day, he noticed even less people walking the aisles of his store.
He’s had to cut hours for everyone on staff and he’s going without pay. He said he hasn’t let go of anyone — yet.
“But we are feeling the pain so heavily,” he said.
Hernandez said it reminds him of recent history.
“Covid. This is Covid only for Latinos. Because in Covid, nobody was out, nobody was buying, nobody was doing much. They were staying at home,” he said. “ Now, they’re afraid to be caught by the police or immigration and that’s why our shops are empty.”
Fear spreads to documented immigrants as well
Gloria Gonzalez owns Gloria’s Auto Sales in St. Paul and said she’s lost 80 percent of her business. In an interview conducted in Spanish, she said other Latino car dealers are worried as well.
“They tell me that it’s the same thing that they’re going through,” she said, referring to loss of revenue and customers. “They’re not selling, they don’t know what to do. Layoff employees, do this promotion, do that one.”
Trump’s rhetoric and executive orders about mass deportations have apparently affected others besides undocumented immigrants.
Many residents with documents fear their legal status won’t help them when federal agents round up suspected undocumented immigrants, small business owners said. They, too, have stopped shopping or leaving their homes.
“A lot of them do have papers, but because of what they hear that probably the president might take their citizenship away, even though they have done everything right,” Hernandez said. “When you hear it, you just get automatically scared.”
Hernandez is trying to lift the Latino small business community by organizing “A Day With Latinos,” an event set for Saturday.
“The aim of a Day of Latinos is to reassure our friends, family, neighbors, that we are here. We’re good people, we’re hard workers, not everybody is illegal in this country, but all of us contribute to the society,” Hernandez said. Over 900 businesses across the state have registered to participate on the day. Businesses taking part may offer promotions
Mayor Jacob Frey posted a video Feb. 6 asking the public to support Latino businesses along East Lake Street and other parts of the city, amid threats against what he called “our new American and immigrant community.“ In the video Frey visits multiple businesses. He enjoys tamales; he roams inside Mercado Central and he buys a Mexican sports jersey from a merchant.
“They’re not as willing to shop at the place that they once did,” he said in the video. “It doesn’t just impact them and their families. It impacts all of these businesses up and down East Lake that rely on the regular shopping.”
Rodrigo Cardoso, owner of InterAmerican Services, said it’s a ghost town in Mercado Central.
His business, which offers parcel shipping to Latin America and professional services, said InterAmerican has seen a 55 percent drop in revenue compared to last January 2024.
He said he thinks the immigrant community is the victim of “some state terrorism.”
“People are very scared to come, especially to Latino centers. You know why? Well, because they think that they’re really doing these raids, sweeping the streets of people you know,” Cardoso said. “There is more terrorism than actual facts to that.”
MPD en Español: ‘Please don’t be afraid’
Anxiety about possible raids has led many immigrants to believe Minneapolis police have the ability to detain them, Cardoso and Hernandez said. Law enforcement officials acknowledge the anxiety and false information in the community.
Recently, Minneapolis Police Inspector Jose Garcia spoke in Spanish to community members at an event inside Colonial Market organized by Hernandez. The aim was to clarify the role of the Minneapolis Police Department in immigration enforcement.
“We have a separation ordinance. We do not collaborate with immigration. We do not give them information,” Garcia said in Spanish. “If they go out on patrol and ask for information, we are not going to give it to them.”
The inspector also tried to reassure the Spanish-speaking community 911 protocols and to call to report a crime.
“I do not want you to be afraid when you call 911. If you call 911, immigration will not come, the police will,” Garcia said. “Please don’t be afraid.”
Gonzalez, the dealership owner, said she has “faith and certainty that this isn’t going to last 100 years.”
She will participate in A Day With Latinos on Saturday. Things, she predicted, will “slowly return to normal” in a few months.
“We’ll be able to go out freely into the streets as always to buy, to consume products, to eat at a restaurant, without the fear of being persecuted,” she said.
Until then, angst prevails over the community.