Hispanic-owned businesses prepare for immigration crackdown
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NEW ORLEANS (WDSU) — With Border Patrol agents expected to begin sweeps in New Orleans this week, some Hispanic businesses are temporarily closing their doors in fear of being targeted.
Walking into Las Carnitas Restaurant 2 around brunch, there is just one lone customer. It’s a sight owner, Juan Torres, is not surprised to see.
“You see the streets, no cars, no people, no nothing, ” said Torres.
While one of his restaurants is open, the other is closed. With immigration sweeps happening any day now, he says people are fearful and simply staying home.
“You have a limited amount of foot traffic coming into those small businesses and then on the back end of that, you also have a large population of Latinos who are also working in those businesses,” said Lindsay Navarro, Founder and CEO of El Centro.
El Centro works with Hispanic entrepreneurs in the New Orleans area to help establish their businesses. Navarro says her customers are concerned they’ll be racially profiled, regardless of their status.
“There is a culture that’s been created in this city, a welcoming culture that celebrates individuality, that celebrates other countries, and so for us to lose even a piece of that is pokes a hole in the fabric that we’ve worked so hard to create,” said Navarro.
According to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, it is not solely Hispanic businesses that will suffer, but rather the state’s economy as a whole.
“Those businesses also need suppliers for their good and services products that they sell, but if they’re not selling, they’re not producing, then they don’t need that, so it’s a revolving door, and at the end of the day, it impacts everyone,” Chamber President Mayra Pineda said.
Pineda says the Chamber is offering resources online for businesses to best prepare ahead of the immigration sweep.
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