From ‘Blitz’ to Bust: ICE cost businesses $1.2B in losses
A new report from UIC says immigration enforcement discourages Cook County shoppers from spending money.
Street vendor Noemi is packing up her produce after a long day of selling very little. Not only is the intense heat keeping customers away, but street traffic has dwindled since Operation Midway Blitz began a year ago. Sept. 2, 2026. | Alex Garcia/Investigative Project on Race and Equity
By Jose Abonce for Investigative Project on Race and Equity
This article is co-published with Block Club Chicago. For more stories like this in your inbox, sign up for IPRE's newsletter.
BRIGHTON PARK — Supermercado El Ranchito is a neighborhood staple in Brighton Park, a predominantly Latino and immigrant community on Chicago’s Southwest Side. In its 30 years operating, it has grown from a corner market to a full-fledged grocery store with a taqueria that serves guisados, a type of meat and vegetable stew.
But since the Trump Administration launched Operation Midway Blitz last year, aisles and restaurant tables are empty most days. When the restaurant is slow, store manager Yadira Rojo checks her phone and often sees on social media that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were spotted nearby. The increased immigration enforcement in President Donald Trump’s second term has led to a significant financial strain for the store.
“I have heard from family and close ones born here that say they do not feel safe because they think that because of your appearance you can be detained,” Rojo said in Spanish. “You run the risk that because you have a Hispanic last name you could be detained.”
It’s a sentiment the Investigative Project and Block Club heard from more than a dozen business owners, workers and residents in the weeks leading up to the one year anniversary of Midway Blitz. This broad community feeling, that Cook County's economy has been disrupted by ICE, is also validated by a new report released by the Great Cities Institute at the University of Illinois Chicago.
The report’s findings are huge: UIC estimates that Cook County retail and restaurant businesses have lost roughly $1.26 billion in commercial activity and about $107 million in tax revenue since ICE enforcement increased last year. This lost spending was not redirected elsewhere so the losses reflect foregone commerce. This is due to a massive reduction in routine shopping trips that once served as a cornerstone of the local economy.
Hundreds of protesters gather and march through the Little Village neighborhood to demonstrate opposition to recent Federal immigration enforcement actions in Chicago on Oct. 25, 2025. | Christopher Dilts/Block Club Chicago
More immigration reporting from the newsroom:
Researchers used anonymized consumer cellphone data to measure foot-traffic and Census spending records to translate the decline in foot-traffic into dollars. They found that residents from neighborhoods with higher numbers of Latin America-born residents have conducted roughly 25 million fewer shopping and dining trips to non-Latino communities since enforcement increased. Researchers said the hardest hit businesses were in suburban retail shops and restaurants.
“The biggest change we see is in the connections between high Latin America–born neighborhoods and the wider Cook County economy," said Matt Wilson, a senior associate director at the Great Cities Institute who co-authored the report. "Residents made substantially fewer trips to businesses elsewhere in the county, and that sustained decline meant fewer customers for businesses and less commercial activity across Cook County.”
Fred Tsao, an attorney with the immigration advocacy group Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, said the financial toll on local businesses shows why the Trump administration's immigration crackdown should end.
“The focus should be on policies and programs that are welcoming of immigrants and enable them to work and thrive in this country,” Tsao wrote in a statement.
Angelina Mendez, the owner of La Chaparritas Grocery and Taqueria, stands outside of her store in Little Village. She says she hardly sees the store’s regulars due to fears of ICE agents. Sept. 2, 2026. | Alex Garcia/Investigative Project on Race and Equity
Angelina Mendez says she’s seen her Latino clientele in Little Village decline by more than half. Mendez owns La Chaparritas Grocery and Taqueria and says she was used to seeing the same regulars for decades — but that’s changed due to ICE.
“There are customers that do not come anymore and those that do come, come less frequently. The customers are scared,” Mendez said in Spanish. “At this moment, this is the new normal.”
Fear over immigration enforcement has significantly reduced the distance traveled and number of shopping trips residents from Latino neighborhoods are making outside of the communities they live in. Instead, the report suggests people are staying put and shopping within their own neighborhoods. Researchers describe this as a “hunkering down” effect, where intensified immigration enforcement has led to a fear of being in spaces far from home. Researchers say this has altered people’s mobility and purchasing behavior. As a result, the report says, residents largely chose to stay and shop locally.
Though the report does not capture the decline in foot-traffic for cash and home-based businesses, street vendors say they are also experiencing a reduction in sales and clientele.
One such vendor is Noemi, a street vendor in Little Village who struggles to sell fruits and vegetables. She says the enforcement is bad for business. Noemi did not want to use her full name fearing retaliation from immigration authorities.
“People from outside the neighborhood are no longer shopping. People are not coming to eat at restaurants. Businesses are empty,” she said in Spanish.
In an effort to support street vendors that are navigating challenging economic times, the Street Vendors Association of Chicago [SVAC] said it raised $700,000 in funds to help vendors offset expenses.
Juana Morales is another street vendor, in Brighton Park, who has received funds from SVAC. She’s operated a fruit and vegetable stand four days-a-week in her neighborhood for nearly two decades.
Before enforcement operations targeted Cook County, Morales said she would sell up to six boxes of tomatoes a day at her stand. She says she has now cut orders in half because ICE raids have caused people to stay home and no longer buy produce like they once did.
“We would like for this to end,” Morales said in Spanish. “Because not only do they affect business but they are also destroying families.”