Close to a year after shocking immigration raids started across Los Angeles, the specter of ICE continues to depress business at many Southland shopping centers even when no immigration officers are in sight.
One mall landlord likened the effect to a mild replay of the COVID-19 pandemic, as shoppers and mall employees cut back on time spent at malls in Latino neighborhoods.
Family shopping jaunts that were once leisurely affairs are being scrapped in favor of quick trips during off-hours to grab essentials and go home, suffering business owners say. Business is down for many merchants, and attendance has fallen at community events such as job fairs and holiday celebrations.
The potential for a surprise visit by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers is still keeping people on edge, landlords say.
“They’re afraid there’s going to be a raid and who knows what happens,” mall operator Sandy Sigal said. “And even for those that are legal, I think the view is that they still get caught up in this, and why go through that?”
Sigal’s NewMark Merrill Cos. owns or manages more than 110 shopping centers in the U.S., including Santa Ana, Inglewood and Thousand Oaks, that cater to millions of Latino shoppers.
“We’re still affected” by previous ICE raids, said Emad Dalati, owner of a UPS store at NewMark’s Bristol Warner Marketplace in Santa Ana. “A lot of customers I used to see in the past, I haven’t seen in a long time. They disappeared.”
ICE arrests have fallen in recent months, and the number of people in immigration detention has dropped from a high of roughly 72,000 in January to 58,000 last week, according to data obtained by the Associated Press.
But in a sign of its continued determination, ICE, in budget documents, says it plans to remove 1 million people this fiscal year and next, compared with roughly 442,000 last year. The agency also has ample funding to carry out its mission, with Congress granting the Department of Homeland Security more than $170 billion for Trump’s immigration agenda last year.
The administration aims to have enough space to detain roughly 100,000 people this fiscal year, which would more than double the average daily number held in ICE detention last year. The administration has already expanded its detention capacity with the purchase of 11 warehouses across the country.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said there had been no change to the president’s deportation strategy.
“President Trump’s highest priority has always been the deportation of illegal alien criminals who endanger American communities,” Jackson said.
One of the largest operators of malls in Latino neighborhoods has seen shopping patterns shift as people try to gauge when ICE is less likely to appear.
“We have also seen, obviously, a drop in the number of visits and a drop in sales when it relates to nonessentials,” said Arturo Sneider, chief executive of Primstor Development Inc. “Folks are making choices. ‘lf I’m going to go out, I’m going to go out to get food and pharmacy or essential needs and not much else.’”
Sales of nonessential goods are down 10% to 15% this year, Sneider said. Examples of nonessentials are beauty products, arts and crafts and fashion wear outside of daily clothing needs.
Primstor operates about 20 mid-sized shopping centers in such Southern California communities as South Gate, Bell Gardens, Panorama City, Oxnard and Walnut Park, along with malls in Texas and Arizona.
Immigration enforcement has been especially active at Primestor malls in southeast Los Angeles County, Sneider said.
Security cameras have caught raids that picked up employees working in loading areas or taking out the trash, and customers walking in parking lots.
“A lot of it was just randomized,” he said. People came to shop, “and then suddenly they’re in a van.”
One of them was a mall janitor who was born in the United States and had no criminal record, according to Sneider. The father of two was detained for more than a week before he could be located by his family and released, he said.
Appearances by immigration officers have diminished in the last month or two, but the sense of apprehension remains because the raids have been intensely disturbing, said Sneider, who emigrated from Mexico in the 1980s.
“We’ve been through a number of recessions and upheavals, but nothing like this in the sense that it has been very impactful in terms of morale and in the atmosphere that the ICE raids have caused in the community,” he said. “This felt like a direct sort of racial, ethnic assault and largely to a community that is very, very dedicated to the United States.”
Retailers have difficulty hiring employees and dealing with absenteeism, he said, especially when trying to hire bilingual workers.
“I’m all for strong borders,” Sigel said, “but we’re choking off new growth in employment.”
He said his options to help tenants are limited.
“The reality is, I don’t know how to comfort them,” Sigel said. “I can’t be an ICE-free zone.”
The Latino neighborhood shopping center owners have also measured substantial drops in attendance at outdoor events intended to bring the community together.
Among them are celebrations of ethnic, racial and religious holidays, health fairs, job fairs and events tailored to kids with arts, crafts and face painting.
“We’ve reduced the size of events,” Sneider said, and have been more careful about where and how they are promoted to keep a lower profile.
Store operators in downtown L.A.’s famed discount shopping corridor Santee Alley say they are struggling since ICE’s crackdown. The last day of April brought mounting stress for vendors.
Carlos, who has sold blankets in a small corner of the strip for four years, cannot cover his rent. He asked to use only his first name for fear of immigration enforcement. He rested his arms on a pile of blankets stacked near the front of the store, watching as just a handful of people made their way through the fashion district.
“This entire year has been terrible,” said Carlos, who has taken up Lyft driving in the early morning to pay his rent. “Sometimes, I leave for the day with nothing in my pockets.”
Carlos, like many vendors in the district, is months behind on rent, unable to break even because of low sales.
Some landlords have slightly lowered rents, but not by enough to offset the plunge in sales. Shops have seen sales drop by more than 80% when the raids started last year and have not picked back up.
Marina Garcia, who’s owned a shop in the district for over a decade, almost shut down.
“I feel so stressed,” she said, rubbing her neck. “Sometimes, I can’t take it.”
The post ‘I can’t be an ICE-free zone’: Fear still shadows the aisles of L.A.’s Latino shopping centers appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
