Empty restaurants and lonely streets ICE raids in Louisiana paralyze public life

In the city of Kenner, residents fear arrest by the immigration authorities and prefer to stay at home. Restaurateurs fear for their livelihood because customers are staying away.

DPA

07.12.2025, 21:20

dpa

Carmela Diaz's taco snack bar is deserted: the doors are locked, the tables are empty and no one is busy working in the kitchen. The restaurant in Kenner in the US state of Louisiana is one of many once flourishing Hispanic businesses that have had to close in recent weeks. More and more people are afraid to leave their homes because they fear ICE operations against immigrants.

In relation to the population, Kenner has the highest number of people with Hispanic roots in Louisiana. ICE has been asked to arrest 5,000 people there. The intensification of operations so far has already hit the local economy hard, as business owners report - with far-reaching consequences for immigrants and US citizens alike.

"Fewer and fewer people have been coming," said Diaz, whose taqueria La Conquistadora has been closed for weeks because both customers and employees no longer dare to leave the premises. "Some days we didn't sell anything at all. That's why I decided to close the store - because there were simply no more customers."

People are being arrested everywhere

Convoys of federal vehicles moved into the city last week and drove through the main shopping streets after the Department of Homeland Security launched the latest in a series of immigration enforcement raids. Similar operations have previously taken place in Los Angeles, Chicago and Charlotte in the state of North Carolina. Eyewitnesses in Kenner released videos showing federal agents arresting people outside businesses and at construction sites.

The commander of the Border Patrol, Gregory Bovino, appeared in the city and announced the launch of Operation Catahoula Crunch to journalists. The name is derived from the big game dog that is the official state dog of Louisiana.

The state's Hispanic population has grown significantly over the past two decades. Many of the people came after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 to help rebuild. In Kenner, located west of New Orleans between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain, Hispanics make up about 30 percent of the population.

"They just handcuff them"

Diaz comes from El Salvador and worked in agriculture in Texas before moving to Louisiana in 2006. She opened food trucks and earned enough to buy a house in Kenner. Her business has since expanded to an entire fleet of trucks and two restaurants.

Because of the raids, the trucks and restaurants are almost all closed. Diaz gets by with a delivery service for people who are afraid of being arrested, regardless of their residency status. "They don't respect anyone," Diaz says of the ICE officers. "They don't ask for documents. They don't investigate. They just handcuff them and take them away."

Mayra Pineda, president of the Louisiana Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and a Kenner resident for decades, worries about the future if the crackdown continues for months as planned. "How are these business owners going to survive?" she asks, "I don't know. But one thing is clear: it's not just affecting the Hispanic community, it's bad for all of us, for the economy in general."

No list of arrests

Kenner Police Chief Keith Conley supports the federal crackdown on immigrants. Crime in the city is down, but he has concerns about violence involving immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally, he says. Police released a dozen press releases documenting crimes between 2022 and 2025 in which those arrested are believed to have entered the country illegally.

Republican Rep. Kirk Talbot, a member of the Louisiana Senate, said he believes the operations in Kenner will ultimately benefit the city. Residents who were in the US legally would have nothing to fear.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, Tricia McLaughlin, said federal agents had already made dozens of arrests in Kenner. The suspects are violent criminals living in the US illegally with criminal convictions including murder, kidnapping, child abuse, robbery, theft and assault. She did not provide a list of those arrested.

Fear of mistreatment by federal officials

Sergio Perez, an immigrant from Guatemala with US citizenship, has lived in Kenner since 2010. He has relatives in the city who do not have a residence permit and are at risk of being arrested or deported. He also fears that all people of Hispanic origin, regardless of their residency status, could be mistreated by federal officials.

Although Perez considers Kenner his home - a place where he can easily find his favorite dishes like caldo de res, a beef and vegetable stew - he would be willing to leave the country if family members are deported. "They don't want us here," he says. "It's like being in someone else's house and not feeling welcome."