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With the Trump administration’s increasingly firm stance on immigration, some businesses in Connecticut are anxious about the potential loss of their clientele.
A dozen employers across the state said this steep decline in sales has them wondering if they’re able to stay open.
Owners Irene Castelan Mendez and Marco Antonio at Las Catrinas Mexican Grocery in Enfield said they are one of these businesses.
Antonio, communicating with us in Spanish, expressed, “I believe much of it stems from the fear rooted in never knowing for sure. You leave your house, but there’s uncertainty about returning home.”
The owners, Irene Castelan Mendez and Marco Antonio, experienced a prosperous launch in January 2022, but report having lost roughly 75% of their business due to heightened deportation activities.
Several employers, who were afraid to go on camera, told NBC CT Investigates that like Marco, they had to learn to adapt and are delivering goods.
Fanel Merville at the Center of Immigrant Development in Bridgeport said that even citizens are scared and staying home.
“They are afraid to go, to go out. I mean, I have, you know, colleagues of mine who are U.S. citizens. They afraid to travel,” Merville said.
With fewer people on the streets, fewer people have been going to stores like Antonio’s.
“The future is uncertain, we’re just trying to survive and I think that a lot of people with businesses are in the same situation,” Antonio said.
He said the business was doing great a year ago, but now, they don’t know if they will make it to next month.
