WCFCourier.com Print StorySunday, May 25, 2008 2:46 PM CDTMiles away, Postville raid's impact is still acute

WATERLOO, Iowa - Gilberto Garcia's grocery store is 90 minutes south of Postville, but the effect of a recent immigration raid in that town has been acute.

Within days of the raid at Agriprocessors in Postville, Garcia said business at his store, El Regreso in downtown Waterloo, slowed to a trickle. After watching fresh produce rot and tortillas rot on the shelves, Garcia said he's decided it is time to go.

Garcia said he will soon shudder his store and accept a buyout plan from the city, which wants his land for redevelopment.

Though they are about 80 miles apart, Hispanic businesses in Waterloo have reported potentially crippling drops in business since the Postville immigration raid. The largest of its type in U.S. history, the raid at Agriprocessors resulted in the detainment of nearly 400 people on immigration related charges.

Despite the distance from the raid, Hispanic business owners report workers suddenly absent and slower sales. They attribute it to fall out from Postville.

Garcia has seen this before, he said, and believes now is the time to bow out.

"I've seen this happen twice. It always takes at least a year for people to regain trust," he said. "That's why I'd rather close _ it's going to take time to recover."

At La Chiquita, which serves many professional workers in downtown Waterloo during lunch, the effect has been somewhat muted.

Beverly Ayala, who owns the business with her husband, said sales of certain items are down. She also said she had to train two new workers.

She said two employees, both from El Salvador, quit last week even though they had work visas.

Ayala said the workers' parents believe immigration agents arrest people first and ask questions later, so they sent their children to stay with relatives.

"It affects everybody, no matter what anybody says," Ayala said.

At La Placita, another Waterloo-area business, sales plunged following the raid.

The store sells fewer tortillas and can't even sell its beer. The man who usually makes fresh cakes in the store hasn't come to work for more than a week.

He insists on baking them in his home, at least until federal agents leave Waterloo, said Juan Carrillo. His brother, Manuel Carrillo, owns the store.

"My construction workers don't want to come in and buy beer," he said. "You wouldn't believe it. Everyone got traumatized or something."

At Rodeo Moda, a clothing shop next door to La Placita, owner Laura de Gomez said sales have slumped so much and so many people have left town that she is considering a second job. Because she sells nonessential items such as jewelry and cowboy boots, the decline has been particularly steep. "I don't know if I'll survive," she said. "Right now I'm doing more social work than business."

Information from: Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, http://www.wcfcourier.com

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