Due to fear of ICE, a traditional market where the Latin community used to go in Las Vegas closes
Due to fear of immigrant arrests, a traditional market where thousands of Hispanics used to go in Las Vegas closed its doors
The psychological impact generated by the operations carried out by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), with the objective of carrying out massive arrests of immigrants without legal status, led to the temporary closure of a traditional market in Las Vegas, Nevada, where it used to the Hispanic community to go.
For almost five decades, the approximately 1,100 places located in the Broadacres Marketplace were visited each weekend by approximately 20,000 visitors, mostly of Latino origin.
However, the number of clients precipitated following the order issued by President Donald Trump to detain foreigners considered dangerous to society.
Although it was assured that initially ICE would detain only those with a police record, videos and information disseminated through social networks began to show that the operations included almost any immigrant.
Therefore, the fear of being deported has diminished the confidence of many Latinos and there are cases where they are avoiding further exposure and even going so far as to temporarily not go to work.
As a result, places like the Broadacres Marketplace look empty, although no ICE agent is around for miles around distance.
Due to the lack of people coming to do their shopping, the North Las Vegas market issued a statement announcing a temporary closure.
“We do not want any of our clients, suppliers or employees to be detained in our business or for us to be a beacon of shopping and entertainment while our federal government is raiding businesses and detaining their people,” part of the letter states.
The absenteeism of Latinos in public places is not only present in Las Vegas, since in other cities such as Houston, Los Angeles, Chicago and Miami this social phenomenon is also replicated.
Despite the comments from thousands of immigrants demanding an end to ICE operations, with the approval of Donald Trump's fiscal plan, billions of dollars will begin to be allocated in the coming months to reinforce the border, but above all to increase deportations to levels never before seen in the United States.