Their quiet disappearance marks not just a loss of income, it\u2019s also the erosion of a culture cherished by many in the city. Street vendors have long been a vital thread in Chicago\u2019s societal and economic fabric, their work revolving around traditional dishes and products that often can\u2019t be found anywhere else in the city. They serve fellow immigrants craving a taste of home.<\/p>\n
\u201cClose your eyes in the summer and you\u2019ll hear children laughing at the park, dogs barking and the familiar bells of the paleteros,\u201d said Chuy Reyes, a Chicago-based photographer who documents the lives of street vendors. \u201cThey bring joy and flavor to our city and some of the most beautiful people I\u2019ve met; that\u2019s why I share their stories \u2014 so they can be seen and heard. What they do is a dying art, born of love.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, their livelihoods, many of them older immigrants who have been in the country for decades, are under even greater threat with the immigration enforcement surge. They\u2019ve historically been among the city\u2019s most vulnerable workers, often facing financial uncertainty, a lack of benefits and danger because of precarious work conditions, such as targets of crime.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/CTC-L-street-vendors-2.jpg\")
A street vendor in the 2600 block of South Pulaski Road in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood, on Sept. 10, 2025. (Antonio Perez\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n
A few remain, relying on faith to keep going, such as Espinoza and his wife. But for most, the uncertainty has only deepened after legal protections were rolled back by the Supreme Court earlier this month, allowing federal immigration agents to target individuals based on race, language, or the type of work they do.<\/p>\n
Street vendors are especially at risk \u201cbecause historically most, if not all in Chicago, are Latino immigrants \u2014 Mexican to be exact \u2014 and speak Spanish,\u201d said Dolores Casta\u00f1eda, a community organizer and researcher.<\/p>\n
Data on street vendors remains limited as their transient nature makes them difficult to track. Chicago legalized street vending in 2015, and that same year, a study by the Illinois Policy Institute counted roughly 2,000 street vendors in the city. Today, the Street Vendors Association of Chicago puts the estimate closer to 3,000, said Martin Unzueta, director of Chicago Community and Worker\u2019s Rights, who works closely with the association.<\/p>\n
For many, becoming a street vendor is pure necessity, and sometimes a sacrifice. They are often without legal documents, have age limitations or face other life circumstances that prevent them from working elsewhere.<\/p>\n
But as they tread along, they serve fellow immigrants nostalgic, familiar flavors such as pan artesanal, camotes, gorditas or tepache.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Rodolfo](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/ctc-street-vendors-deportations01.jpg\")
Rodolfo Alvarez in his hardware store at 1323 W. 18th Street in Chicago, Sept. 18, 2025. (Terrence Antonio James\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n
For Rodolfo Alvarez, that taste is tamales.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alvarez, owner of Alvarez Hardware on 18th Street in Pilsen, has lived in the area for 62 years. Recently, a friend stopped by Alvarez\u2019s shop with tamales that he planned to sell at his nearby cafe. They were good, Alvarez said, but \u201ctoo Americanized.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He feels the same way about the tamales sold at popular Mexican restaurants, who tend to cater to customers who might not be as \u201cspice-tolerant,\u201d Alvarez said with a laugh.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey just aren\u2019t spicy enough, they have too little salt or too much \u2014 but I love it hot; even my grandkids like spicy,\u201d Alvarez said. But the homemade tamales, usually tamales rojos from a nearby street vendor, never fail to satisfy his craving.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose are the ones that remind me of home,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Throughout the decades, Alvarez has witnessed changes to the local landscape in Pilsen, the ebb and flow of new development, shifting demographics and cultural conservation.<\/p>\n
But nothing has been as drastic as the too-quiet streets on Mexican Independence Day. He\u2019s hopeful it\u2019s only temporary. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe street vendors used to always go through the streets shouting what they have \u2026 candies or ice cream or popsicles or corn \u2014 all the kids will come out, and even grown-ups too,\u201d Alvarez said. \u201cMaybe they missed a flavor from their (youth) \u2026 that\u2019s what we had here, and I think we will keep up with the traditions again.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Streets](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/CTC-L-vendors-deportation35.jpg\")
Streets are nearly empty of vehicles, pedestrians or street vendors along 18th Street near a a CTA train station in Chicago\u2019s Pilsen neighborhood, Sept. 17, 2025. (Antonio Perez\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n
Street vending gained popularity in Chicago during the 1970s, according to Lilia Fernandez, a history professor at the University of Illinois Chicago. Migration from Mexico continued but as jobs declined at industrial warehouses across the steel mills, railroads, packing houses and stockyards, many Latino communities turned to the informal economy to survive.<\/p>\n
In a way, street vendors stepped into an untapped market and are often overlooked as essential contributors to society.<\/p>\n
\u201cImmigrant vendors and small business owners often provide goods that aren\u2019t readily available in the mainstream market,\u201d Fernandez said.<\/p>\n
Still, the work is not easy.<\/p>\n
![\"Vendors](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/CTC-L-vendors-deportations01.jpg\")
Vendors Rodolfo Espinoza and wife, Celia, stock bags of peanuts for sale at their produce stand in Chicago, Sept. 18, 2025. (Antonio Perez\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n
Take Espinoza. After taking some hard hits in his life, the 60-year-old said there\u2019s not much else he can do to make a living. The sidewalk produce stand has sustained him and his wife for six years. He turned to vending after losing his job and falling ill during the pandemic.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe survived then, and we worked mostly every day out here,\u201d Espinoza said smiling. Today, he intends to resist the odds yet again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But advocates worry that vendors, especially those on the Southwest Side, are being targeted by immigration agents, racially profiling them to meet their quotas.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Vendor](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/CTC-L-vendors-deportation06.jpg\")
Vendor Reynaldo Martinez on his bike after selling all his burritos and gorditas, Sept. 9, 2025, in Chicago. (Antonio Perez\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n
![\"Vendors](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/CTC-L-vendors-deportation12.jpg\")
Vendors sell their products in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood, Sept. 9, 2025. (Antonio Perez\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n![\"Vendor](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/CTC-L-vendors-deportation13.jpg\")
Vendor Faustina Vargas sells homemade bread in Chicago, Sept. 9, 2025. (Antonio Perez\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n