Local businesses report downturn due to the climate of fear in Latino community

Small businesses in downtown Riverhead that serve the Latino community report steep drops in foot traffic and revenue as immigrant residents increasingly avoid public spaces in a time of high anxiety locally and across the country. 

While there is no evidence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions in the local area, fear of stepped-up enforcement to meet the Trump administration’s recently announced deportation quotas is keeping people home, business owners say. Some businesses report complete customer disappearance due to rumored immigration enforcement activity on Long Island.

The economic ripple effects are reshaping daily life for many in Riverhead, according to about 12 downtown business owners interviewed this week. Owners say sales have plummeted 30-50% in recent weeks. Others are preparing for what’s ahead.

‘It’s like January all the time now’

“People are scared,” said the owner of an East Main Street hair salon, who has operated her salon for 16 years. “Not even during the pandemic, or Trump’s first term, people were so afraid,” she said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. 

The heightened anxiety comes amid multiple reports of immigration enforcement operations across Long Island this month, including in communities like Mastic, Bellport and Huntington. Even incidents later confirmed as unrelated to immigration enforcement have intensified fears, such as yesterday’s law enforcement action at a Riverhead men’s shelter that initially sparked rumors of ICE activity before police confirmed the agents were not from ICE and the action was unrelated to immigration.

The rumors come against the backdrop of raids taking place in other places across the U.S., and residents going about their daily lives being arrested by masked agents on streets, in stores and factories and outside courthouses when they go for required, routine immigration check-ins.

Business usually peaks during the month of May, especially around Mother’s Day, the salon owner said. It’s been a steady trend for over a decade, but this year, for the first time, walk-in traffic virtually disappeared, she said. 

“It’s like it’s January all the time now,” she explained. “In the past I usually had about 30 clients on a good day, now if we’re lucky we reach 13 or 14, and that’s because they trust me from years being here, but it means we are very tight money-wise, we are holding on and trying to remain strong.”

The salon owner explained the hair salon usually employs two additional hairdressers for the summer. As it stands now, the business won’t be able to afford it, she said.

“We are very worried, as business owners, as community members,” she said “What’s going to happen to downtown Riverhead?”

Jhojan Grajales, who has owned Flow Latino Barbershop on East Main Street about seven months, said he has also noticed a sharp decrease in sales and foot traffic, especially in the last three weeks. He has gone from about eight clients a day to two, he said. 

The stark change represents a dramatic shift for businesses that have long served as community anchors for Riverhead residents. Two multiservice businesses, Riverhead Multiservice on West Main Street and Damaris Multiservice on East Main Street, said customer flow has decreased significantly, with some days seeing far fewer clients than the steady stream the businesses typically serve.

Damaris Martinez, who has owned Damaris Multiservice for 14 years, said clients have told her over and over they’re afraid, and are trying to go out only for essential trips, like food shopping or work. 

“For the type of business we are, we are not a priority right now, and I can understand that,” explained Martinez, whose business sales have decreased by at least 50% since January, she said. “I just hope things calm down. It has never been like this, and the only thing I can do is pray and trust that God will protect this community.”

A rise in demand for notary services, as parents fearing detention by ICE sign legal documents they hope will protect their children

Riverhead Multiservice, or “La Roxana,” as is colloquially known, is considered an institution by many local Latinos. Erika Mera, whose family has owned the business for more than 25 years, said rumors of ICE are everywhere, and whether true or not, it is hurting their business.  La Roxana is usually “very busy” at all times since it provides a wide range of services— from notary services, to remittance of funds abroad, airplane tickets, gifts, and more, Mera said.  But now it is much slower.

“Yesterday we had the rumor that there was ICE here in our store, we had some clients call, ‘Hey, I heard ICE was there? Is it safe to go?,’” said Mera. “We had like, two hours where no one came in, not a soul.”

The fear and mounting anxiety has also pushed some local residents who have lived in Riverhead for decades — including mixed-status households where parents may lack documentation, but children are U.S. citizens  — to prepare in case they are detained. In some cases, they even make the difficult decision to leave the United States voluntarily, said Mera, who is registered as a public notary, and has had to process numerous power of attorney documents for clients for those reasons, she said. 

“Just yesterday, I had two clients just like that, one had a young son and they have a court case coming up, and they’re concerned of what’s going to happen when they go to their appointment,” Mera said. 

Many parents are also taking extraordinary precautions, including securing dual citizenship for their U.S.-born children and preparing guardianship letters for relatives who are permanent residents or citizens, Mera said.

“And let’s be clear. These are good, hard-working families that will be separated because of fear,” she said. “They are not criminals, or any of those things, they are our neighbors, often working long hours in restaurants, farm work, to raise their children.”

Downtown food pantries and community centers, which serve as lifelines for many local Latino families, also report significantly fewer families seeking assistance despite continued need, something their leaders attribute to fear as well.   

The food pantry at St. John the Evangelist Church in Riverhead, which provides food and other services to the community — including legal assistance, access to different agencies and providers, like Sun River Health representatives — has experienced a sharp decrease, director Jessica Ruiz said. From serving an average of 1,600 people per month from January to April, the number of people who came in during May fell to 600, Ruiz said. Immigrant parents are increasingly requesting guardianship letters and other documents, in case they’re deported, she said. 

“The last two weeks, it’s where we have noticed it more,” Ruiz said. “Our shelves are full, our waiting room empty. Yesterday just two people came, when normally we had 25 or so.”

Fear is the primary reason, Ruiz said.

“It breaks my heart,” she said. “We know they need the food, especially now that school is almost over and kids are going to be home and they are not going to be getting breakfast or lunch there, but parents are too scared to come, and we want them to know they are welcome here.”

Sun River Health Deputy Chief Operating Officer Carlos Ortiz  said, although they have not yet seen a decrease in the number of patients, as of the latest data on visits through April 30, around 58% of all patients are Latino. Sun River has made plans to increase its telehealth services, and mobilize its health van, if in-person visits drop due to the current climate. 

“Our priority is to continue providing high quality care to our patients,” he said. “We have created a great system of communication with them and we know that if they can’t come to us we will find a way to get out to them, and serve patients where they’re at.”

Right across the street, at Rural and Migrant Ministry’s community center, the number of people attending their educational workshops and events has also lessened. This week alone, two training sessions had to be canceled because people didn’t register or dropped out, regional coordinator Noemi Sanchez said.   

In contrast to other businesses, downtown restaurant and deli owners said foot traffic has decreased only slightly or kept steady, but the palpable unease and uncertainty is forcing them to think ahead and come up with new strategies to reach their customers safely, in case they start losing them. 

At Casa Dorado Deli Taquería, owner Raul De Jesús said they have noticed delivery requests double in the last few weeks. From an average of four deliveries a day, they are now doing around eight, he said. 

Aside from serving clients on the delivery apps, they also have made arrangements to deliver directly if people call, De Jesús said. He said that he met with next-door business owner Christopher Aguilar, founder of Mexicandy, to talk about their strategy in case sales start to go down because of what’s happening, and they agreed, deliveries are the way to go.

“I would be going back to basics since that’s how I started,” Aguilar said, who added that they have noticed a decrease in sales since January. 

However, he said the current climate of fear among Riverhead Latino residents isn’t the only factor stressing his business. He said he is “battling” with the increase in the price of produce, especially the fruit he uses, which many times comes from other countries and due to tariffs, is now more expensive. As a specialty Mexican ice cream and street food shop, he said he “can’t just go to Restaurant Depot” to find what he needs. He often has to travel to other states, which also means higher costs, he said. 

“Right now, it’s tough, you can feel how people used to come and there was less tension, now people are afraid to even go out, I can’t increase prices on top of that,” he said. 

“Look at Riverhead’s Main Street, right or left you will find Latino businesses up and down,” De Jesús said. 

“We shouldn’t be living in fear —nobody should live in fear. We are providing for our families, but also contributing to the town, to the state, to the whole economy.”

Maria del Mar Piedrabuena is an editor and publisher of Tu Prensa Local, a Spanish language news website serving eastern Suffolk County.