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The Carrasco family opened Domingos in Portland in 2024. The restaurant alongside its sister restaurant Santo Domingo Taqueria is an ode to the family’s Oaxacan roots. The restaurants are named after the patron saint of the family’s hometown in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Courtesy of Leslie Carrasco
For the Carrasco family, selling food is more than just business. It’s a way to honor their Mexican heritage and share their culture with Oregonians.
Like many Generation X Latinos, the Carrascos first came to the Willamette Valley as a couple to work in apple and berry fields, eventually making their way to Portland where they would pursue their version of the American Dream by opening Santo Domingo Taqueria in 2006 and Domingos in 2024. The Carrascos and their three adult children manage both restaurants, which pay homage to the family’s roots in Oaxaca — a southern Mexican state known for its rich Indigenous culture and iconic cuisine such as mole and mezcal.
But in recent months, the family’s businesses — and Latino-owned businesses throughout Oregon — are experiencing increasing threats, declining customers and more fear in their communities. In response, Latino business owners are finding ways to make their customers and employees feel safe despite the growing presence of federal immigration agents in the state.
Reports of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement sightings on social media have surfaced just about every day — from Salem and Klamath Falls to Grand Ronde, Beaverton and Newport.
Leslie Carrasco, the Carrascos’ middle child, said the restaurants have received multiple calls from people claiming to be ICE agents and threatening to arrest their employees.
“I just hung up at that point, and was just shocked,” she said about the latest call.
The Carrascos have since set up their phones to reject anonymous calls, but Carrasco said she still feels the fear throughout her community. The Cully neighborhood, where their first restaurant is based and where she grew up, is one of Portland’s most culturally diverse neighborhoods. The neighborhood is known for having a rural touch as kids often play and ride their bikes along its unpaved roads. Until recently, the neighborhood has quieted down.
“We feel it as a business,” Carrasco said. “People are scared to come out. We grew up in this community, and it’s never been like this. We aren’t a quiet bunch. Everyone is stressed and everyone is scared.”
Taking care of community: Latino business owners respond to ICE presence
Across Oregon, Latino-owned businesses are taking steps to protect their customers and staff.
At SuperMercados Mexico, a Portland grocery store, signs are posted at entrances warning that ICE agents cannot enter without a valid judicial warrant.
Latino-owned businesses in Oregon, like Los Compadres market in Albany as seen in the image above, have posted signs at their front entrances warning federal immigration agents that they are a private business.
Mia Maldonado/Oregon Capital Chronicle
“ICE came into the parking lot a couple of times,” store manager Cris Nuñez told the Capital Chronicle. “This is private property, so we’re not going to allow people who are trying to target a certain group to just come into our parking lot and disturb our business.”
In Salem, El Torito Supermarket has also posted those signs. Store owner Lily Perez said she has trained staff on how to respond in case immigration agents arrive and launched a free delivery service for local customers with orders over $25.
“The most important thing for us is that our customers feel safe and taken care of,” Perez told the Capital Chronicle.
Perez said her store has slowed in recent days, with fewer customers coming in. On Saturday, ICE agents detained a man in the store’s parking lot. The incident was captured in a video posted to social media showing immigration agents wearing masks pushing the man to the ground as the person recording the video cries and yells “papá!” which means father in Spanish.
“Our workers felt powerless, because their instinct was to protect and support their community but also they had to stay calm and try not to cause more panic for those within the store,” Perez said. “It was a difficult moment, but it reinforced our promise to take care of our community and give them a safe space.”
ICE agents are detaining U.S. citizens, Oregon lawmaker warns
State Rep. Ricki Ruiz, D-Gresham, has had a lot of conversations with Latino business owners in his community who are seeing employees fearful of going to work.
Ruiz represents Oregon’s fourth largest city, where many residents are from Latin America. Ruiz said many Latino community members know him well because of his mother.
Rep. Ricki Ruiz, D-Gresham, works on the House floor at the Oregon State Capitol in Salem on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023.
Amanda Loman/Oregon Capital Chronicle
“My mom actually was one of those ladies that would go to every party, go to every community event and drag me as a kid, and a lot of people still remember that,” Ruiz told the Capital Chronicle.
Now as a bilingual lawmaker, Ruiz has earned the trust of Latino constituents in his district and beyond. He’s heard from Latino businesses in Ontario, Bend and Hillsboro who have come to him sharing their concerns as businesses and also thanking him for sharing immigrant rights resources on social media.
President Donald Trump said in April that his administration would deport “the worst of the worst,” referring to immigrants living in the U.S. without proper authorization who have committed drug crimes or who are a part of a gang. But that’s not what’s happening, Ruiz said.
“What we’re seeing is there are people being detained and there’s no arrest warrant,” Ruiz said. “ICE is detaining legal residents and U.S. citizens, and the reason why they’re being detained is because they look brown, they speak brown and they do work jobs that are predominantly done by brown people.”
On Monday, ICE detained a U.S. citizen in Ruiz’s district who was taking photos of unmarked ICE vehicles. ICE agents kept the person’s phone and are now trying to justify searching it, Ruiz said on Facebook.
In September, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that immigration agents can consider race when detaining people. Immigration agents have detained at least 170 U.S. citizens, most of whom allegedly interfered or assaulted officers, or who agents suspected were in the country illegally. Those held under suspicion of their citizenship status were almost all Latino, ProPublica reported.
Oregon’s sanctuary state laws prohibit law enforcement from coordinating with federal immigration agents. However, Ruiz said he thinks Oregon can do more and pass laws similar to California and Illinois that restrict the release of employee information and limit ICE access in private workplaces.
Other Oregon lawmakers are also working to amend the Oregon Constitution to prevent law enforcement including ICE agents from wearing face coverings. However, the effort could face legal challenges because the U.S. Constitution says state laws cannot impede federal government operations. The Trump administration already said California’s version of the law is unconstitutional and directed ICE not to follow it.
“If you support ICE, then let’s make sure you’re ready to work on the farms to pick berries,” Ruiz said. “Let’s make sure you’re ready to go and build homes. Let’s make sure you’re ready to fill in the gaps that immigrants are supporting through their labor and taxes just for you to sit on your couch and complain on Facebook.”
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