BACK OF THE YARDS — Some Back of the Yards neighbors say they’re too scared to step outside.

Local businesses are reporting drastic sales drops.

It’s been nearly two months since federal agents launched Operation Midway Blitz, with officials saying they’d target undocumented immigrants with serious criminal histories. Instead, agents have repeatedly been seen stopping and detaining people at random, seemingly focusing their efforts on Latino-majority neighborhoods like Back of the Yards.

And on Wednesday morning, the neighborhood’s commercial corridor along West 47th Street was quieter than usual, with fewer neighbors strolling through.

“At any other point in the last 20 years, at 9 a.m. on a weekday, you would see bustling streets, economic activity, people out and about in a thriving community,” said Berto Aguayo, founder of community group Increase the Peace.

“What you see today is a direct effect of them terrorizing our communities, empty streets, empty businesses.”

Volunteers put together 500 meals to distribute to neighbors amid immigration raid fears at La Bahia de Acapulco along 47th Street in Back-of-the-Yards on Oct. 29, 2025. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago

Yet inside the Mexican restaurant Bahia de Acapulco, 1632 W. 47th St., more than two dozen volunteers gathered to distribute 500 meals among neighbors in need.

Benito Hernandez, the restaurant’s owner, said he reached out to Aguayo’s nonprofit because he wanted to donate 150 meals and give back to the neighbors who have sustained his restaurant for 15 years.

Despite sales dipping the past two months, Hernandez wanted to help neighbors he knew were also struggling, he said.

ICE-led Operation Midway Blitz and its Border Patrol counterpart, Operation At Large, have left some neighbors afraid to step outside. Others can’t work, worried they’ll be taken by agents.

“We have seen a lot of that in 47th Street, where people are taken from the street right in front of businesses,” said Cynthia Olivares, community organizer and legal aid coordinator for the nonprofit Increase the Peace.

The sidewalk along 47th Street was unusually quiet in the morning in Back-of-the-Yards on Oct. 29, 2025. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago

When the group announced it’d provide free meals to people in need, about 300 neighbors signed up in just two hours, said Mayra Macias, a volunteer with the group.

To meet the need, the group launched a GoFundMe and raised over $3,000 in 12 hours to distribute meals to neighbors living in eight Southwest Side ZIP codes.

At Bahia de Acapulco, volunteers dished chicken or beef fajitas, rice and beans into to-go containers. Others dropped them off at the homes of neighbors who are not working or who are staying at home out of fear of immigration operations, organizers said.

Agents have taken street vendors — including a beloved tamale vendor — as well as day laborers at construction sites and people searching for work at the local Home Depot.

“No one is on the streets, as you can see,” said a local tamale vendor who asked not to be named due to fear of being targeted by immigration agents.

That morning, the vendor and his partner shared one of the meals distributed by Increase the Peace and Bahia de Acapulco. With “low to nothing sales,” getting a free lunch was “at least something,” the vendor said in Spanish.

“Some of our customers have told us to stay home,” the vendor said. “But we are out here, hoping to sell enough to buy ourselves lunch.”

A person sells tamales along 47th Street was unusually quiet in the morning in Back-of-the-Yards on Oct. 29, 2025. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago

Along the street, several restaurant owners have reported lower foot traffic and dwindling sales, organizers said.

“A lot of the businesses here are [owned by] people from the community. So if they are hurting, their pockets are hurting and their families are hurting,” said Evelyn Aguayo, Berto Aguayo’s sister and a community organizer and legal aid supervisor for Increase the Peace.

Amid the fear, organizers said the food distribution event is a great way to support local businesses, provide an avenue for those neighbors who are eager to help and build community.

“As much as there is a need, there’s also a willingness to help,” Berto Aguayo said.

The group plans to organize more and expects a bigger need for food aid when SNAP benefits expire Saturday, organizers said. This could impact local families, neighbors and some of the nonprofit’s program participants, organizers said.

Other groups have also felt compelled to help. Over the weekend, Corporate Pero Latinos organized a Back of the Yards business crawl.

About 30 people strolled along 47th Street, visiting local coffee shops, restaurants and shops, buying from street vendors and sharing what the neighborhood’s commercial street has to offer on social media, Macias said.

“You create a business hoping that it’s gonna thrive, and when you least expect it, you see the numbers drop so drastically,” Olivares said.

Listen to the Block Club Chicago podcast: