ICE enforcement chills some business in Sussex, Kent counties

The June Facebook video showed federal immigration agents arresting a man at the driver’s door of his work van in front of the Route 13 Outlet Market sign in Laurel, Delaware. The video garnered more than 200 shares, and word spread that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was at the longstanding flea market, which was heavily patronized by Sussex County immigrants. 

“At some point, it felt like we were the only people that were in there,” said Gina, a Frankford resident and longtime market patron. “It was always so lively and full of energy.” 

Gina, alongside two other women interviewed for this story, asked only to be identified by their first names out of fear of retribution.

In Dover, Felix Sainte was forced to cancel the annual Haitian Flag Day celebration in May because of the community fear surrounding the increased immigration enforcement at the time. While many Haitian immigrants were living with some form of legal protection from deportation, they still didn’t want to attend because of the sheer possibility of being targeted by ICE, Sainte said. 

The aisles within the Route 13 Outlet Market, a Laurel-area flea market normally patronized by Sussex County’s immigrant community, have been abnormally bare in recent months. Fears of being arrested by ICE have largely quashed economic activity among immigrants in Southern Delaware. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY JOSE IGNACIO CASTANEDA PEREZ

“People didn’t know what was going on and until this day they’re still scared,” Sainte said. 

Other business owners have had to establish plans with their employees about what to do if ICE shows up. 

The ramped-up enforcement in southern Delaware has imbued fear into longstanding immigrant communities, leading many to second guess leaving their homes at all. In February, mom-and-pop shops statewide pivoted to offering delivery services, as many immigrants were afraid to buy groceries, even just a mile from their front doors. 

Similarly, early warning signs of economic impacts are starting to sprout up across the country as a result of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants. 

Employment rates have dropped nationwide in the construction, agriculture and hospitality industries in the past few months, according to the American Immigration Council, a nonprofit immigration research group. In California, which is the world’s fourth-largest economy, the total workforce dropped by more than 3% this summer because of immigration enforcement, according to a July report from the University of California, Merced. 

“Everybody’s going to feel it, whether it’s now, tomorrow, or in five to 10 years,” said Araceli, a Dagsboro resident and native of Oaxaca, Mexico. 

‘Everybody is going to feel it’

Carmen knew the flea market was going to be empty as soon as she woke up and saw the arrest video on Facebook. 

“Today is going to be silent, dead, crickets, and it’s exactly what it was,” said Carmen, who owns a business in the market. 

The next weekend, the market was empty again. There are weeks when it seems to be getting better, but then a new video or photo of an arrest pops up, and the shops are quiet again, Carmen said. 

A few shop owners compared the current scene to what the market looked like coming out of the COVID pandemic. Traditionally, Fridays are slow, Saturdays are bustling and Sundays are steady, shopkeepers said. 

But for the first six months of 2025 — following President Donald Trump’s inauguration — every day has felt like a Friday, said Manny Hernandez, owner of Tipicos Bellas Artes, a shop inside the market that specializes in handmade attire, kitchenware and souvenirs. 

On a recent Saturday afternoon, the market again resembled a Friday. 

A handful of families milled about the shops, while another dozen people sat to eat in the food court. In years past, there would have been so many people that it would be difficult to move around the aisles, shopkeepers said. The line for the taco shop, they added, would be stretching toward the entrance. 

The market’s downturn in the spring took a particular toll on Gabriela Alvarez’s western wear store, Botas El Reparo, that offers leather boots, hats and formal attire for parties. Most of the store’s customers came in looking to buy clothes for celebrations — parties, weddings and quinceañeras — but with fears of ICE arrests on the rise, community members canceled those types of gatherings. 

“People are scared to do events that involve a whole bunch of Hispanics communing together and having fun,” Alvarez said.

Despite these concerns, Alvarez said people are slowly returning to the weekend market and business is beginning to pick up.

“(Shoppers) probably said, ‘Enough, we’re not going to live in fear.’”