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(ABC 6 News) – In an open letter to Rochester leaders, Wilber de la Rosa, owner of La Mayzteca, called for those leaders to step up and support businesses like his, which he says are at risk of disappearing.
La Mayzteca specializes in produced authentic, handmade tortillas, chicken, and other Hispanic foods, filling a niche for a major part of the Rochester community.
“We focus on everybody you know but our goal first was the Hispanic community because those foods is kind of like a cultural for them,” de la Rosa said.
The store is barely half a year old, but ever since ICE activity ramped up across Minnesota, that community has vanished, hurting his business and the ones he services.
The ramped up efforts, including the sending of 2000 agents to the Twin Cities within the past week, have been defended by the Trump administration as a way to crack down on fraud and illegal immigration.
However, in the immediate aftermath of Wednesday’s ICE involved shooting in Minneapolis, de la Rosa says the three Hispanic grocery stores he provides tortillas to all shut down and opened late Friday, preventing him from fulfilling the standing orders between his store and theirs.
Other businesses in the Twin Cities he also supplies have had to pull back as well because of their own lost sales.
“The sales on average for all those Hispanic businesses in the Twin Cities is kind of like a 60% drop off,” he said.
De la Rosa says people are afraid to leave their homes, for fear of being detained or arrested.
As if to illustrate his point, during his interview with ABC 6, a man just across town was detained by ICE on Civic Center Drive.
RELATED: ICE agents cuff, release man in Rochester Friday
That man was released, but it shows how real those fears are; fears that were brought up just under a year ago by many other immigrant run businesses.
“We sent that message because people they get afraid [of] what is going on out there,” said Gesus Corona Ortiz, owner of Corona’s Tacos. “They’re afraid to go out of their house. I mean we need that support because the support gets our business going.”
Corona’s Tacos was one of several Latino-owned businesses that took part in “A Day Without Immigrants” to show what is lost when these communities vanish.
RELATED: Local businesses close Monday to participate in “A Day Without Immigrants”
When they reopened, they had a flood of support.
“I had a lot of customers say like we are really grateful for you guys,” said Ortiz’s daughter Ariel Corona Trevino, who also works at the restaurant. “We’re happy that you guys closed, we support you and everything.”
But now, the message that people tried to raise awareness of is at risk of becoming reality.
De la Rosa hopes his call to leaders will bring even more awareness to what he and others like him are currently facing.
“This is a situation that can break a new business like mine, you know. If this situation continues like last week for another three or four weeks, we disappear,” he said.
De la Rosa’s letter calls on Rochester leaders to acknowledge the situation, listen to those affected, and figure out what can be done locally to “protect the economic and social stability of this part of Rochester.”
But those at La Mayzteca aren’t just waiting for help to come, they’re being proactive.
Not only are they offering free deliveries within Rochester, they’re also accepting donations to cover the cost of food they provide to local immigrant families who feel they aren’t able to leave their homes.
De la Rosa says people can stop by in-store to make donations, or message them on Facebook for more information.
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