Why Should Delaware Care?: Mom-and-pop markets have begun offering delivery services for Delawareans who are afraid to leave their homes amid a federal immigration crackdown. The move punctuates weeks of fear among Delaware’s immigrant communities that comprise about 10% of the state’s population.
During a lunch hour last week, Vanessa Padilla Camargo sat alone amid her empty eatery.
Two rows of plastic tablecloth-draped tables sat undisturbed. Her menu, written in marker on poster boards, looked out toward a largely hushed locale, with only a meat slicer humming in the background.
It was lunchtime on a Friday at Carniceria Camargo, a Newport butcher shop and restaurant. Typically, the restaurant would be bustling at that hour with patrons eager for the weekend.
Not today.
Padilla Camargo has seen sales drop in recent weeks as fear over beefed-up immigration enforcement has encroached into Delaware’s immigrant communities — causing many to even second guess a trip to the grocery store.
In response, mom-and-pop immigrant and Latino-owned markets, including Carniceria Camargo, have decided to offer makeshift delivery options to Delawareans too scared to leave their homes. Those business owners who spoke with Spotlight Delaware say they use their personal cars to make the deliveries, which are often free of charge.
In all, it marks another shift in the lives of many Delaware immigrants that has come in the weeks after President Donald Trump’s inauguration last month – a period marked by highly publicized immigration enforcement crackdowns, and anti-immigrant rhetoric.
“People have been very nervous, and we wanted to support the community because, at the end of the day, people are scared,” Padilla Camargo said in Spanish.
The sentiment is punctuated by the first confirmed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement action in Delaware last week, which was a targeted fugitive arrest operation. No further details of the action have been released.
While there have not yet been any large-scale immigration raids in the state, community health worker Adriana Viveros-Sosa said many “immigrant families are not doing the same things that they were doing before.”
“People are afraid to even continue their daily routines,” she said.
While Trump campaigned on the promise of mass deportations, it is unclear what the scope of those future actions might be. He made similar promises during his first term, but the roughly 2 million deportations under him was about half of the number under his successor, former President Joe Biden.
The Biden administration carried out deportations and expulsions with the help of a COVID-era policy, called Title 42, which allowed the rapid expulsion of people. Experts says Title 42 led to an increase in repeat crossings with little consequences, which could contribute to the higher number of deportations.
Data is not yet available for Trump’s first full month in office.
‘People are scared’
Magdalena Garcia Sosa stood amid a backdrop of fresh produce. She was flanked by boxes of unripened mangoes, sugary cereal and packets of bubble gum inside her Wilmington business, Lancaster Mini Market, on a recent afternoon.
Garcia Sosa estimates that sales dropped about 30-40% in recent weeks, largely due to people being frightened to shop in person. The market was now desolate on mornings when it was normally lively.
Now, if people do stop in, they quickly shop for essentials and hurriedly leave, she added. The business then began offering delivery services within a 10-minute radius of the market.
In nearly two weeks, Garcia Sosa has made about 15-20 delivery trips in her personal car. She doesn’t charge a delivery fee but asks that orders be at least $20.
“We had to offer the service to contribute a little bit, to make people feel more comfortable, and so they don’t run out of what they really need,” Garcia Sosa said in Spanish.
La Guadalupana Store in Millsboro and La Hispanita Do in Laurel – two local markets with largely immigrant customers – have also announced on Facebook that they will immediately offer delivery services amid the fear and uncertainty facing their customers.
There are about 98,000 immigrants living in Delaware — representing roughly 10% of the population, according to the American Immigration Council, an immigration advocacy group. The majority hail from Mexico, India, Guatemala and China.
The fear among immigrant communities has only been exacerbated by rumors and misinformation spreading on social media, particularly among Spanish-speaking Facebook groups.
“Sometimes it’s false news, but people are still filled with fear,” said Padilla Camargo, owner of Carniceria Camargo.
In Middletown, José Ortiz Flores has already had to dispel a few rumors of ICE being near his store, El Nevado Mexican Grocery Store. If ICE was there, Ortiz Flores would be the first to alert residents about it, he said.
“Everyone is panicking,” Ortiz Flores said in Spanish.
Ortiz Flores is planning to create a Facebook or WhatsApp group for people to communicate if the y see any ICE activity and dispel any misinformation flying around. Middletown’s Latino and Black populations have grown exponentially as the community has boomed in recent years.
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