Victorino Martin-Chavez's wife started to worry at a little past 7 in the morning. Chavez usually arrives home at 7:15 for breakfast after he drops off their children at Milan Elementary. But Chavez never returned home that day.
The Guatemala native was one of three people detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on Feb. 24 in Milan, a town of about 1,800 people in north-central Missouri. Chavez's wife — who asked not to be identified by name for this story — has not seen her husband since.
Chavez's wife is expecting the couple's fourth child. She has been feeling sick, but it has been hard for her to attend to her prenatal visits because her husband was the family's only driver. He also was the lone breadwinner.
"She doesn't even want to be here because she feels uncomfortable because her husband isn't here to help her with the costs, with the kids, with going to the clinic," said Ingrid, the family's adult daughter, who asked to be identified by only her first name for this story.
Friends have helped gather funds from the community to support the family. But the aid is temporary.
Chavez's family is one of several in the area who have been torn apart by ICE raids. The consequences leave households struggling financially and seep into the local economy.
Trying to make ends meet
Two weeks after the late-February raid, the trailer home where Chavez lived with his wife and kids was filled with black trash bags.
They bags contained clothes, children's toys, laundry detergent — all the belongings of Ingrid, her husband and their three children. They all moved in with Ingrid's mother to support her financially.
Ingrid's husband is now the sole provider for nine people at a cost of around $3,300 a month, and she said he is struggling with the mounting bills. Ingrid is unable to work for the next six months because she is on bed rest after a recent surgery.
"He's thinking about how he's going to do it," Ingrid said, "and I want to help, but I don't know how to."
Chavez worked for CK Enterprises, where he sanitized the Smithfield Foods hog processing plant from 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. The family was uncertain if they would receive his last paycheck.
As soon as her children's passports come in, Chavez's wife said, she will leave for Guatemala to reunite with her husband, who was deported there.
No clients, no business
Chavez's wife is not the only one looking to leave Milan. Others in the community also are considering moving. Several local business owners question what that would mean for their futures.
Pupuseria La Bendicion is one of five Hispanic-owned businesses on Milan's small Main Street square.
When the restaurant opened four years ago, there was so much demand it had to move to a bigger location around the corner. Pupuseria La Bendicion mainly caters to Milan's Latinos, who make up around half of the town's population.
On the day of the ICE raid, the restaurant's owner — who asked not to be identified by name for this story — was one of several business owners who closed up shop for both the lack of clientele and the fear of attracting attention to herself.
But the financial hit to Pupuseria La Bendicion has lasted beyond that day. Its owner said the restaurant's weekly revenue has gone down from around $7,000 to $4,000 in recent weeks. She said other businesses have felt it, too.
"I would really go as far as to say that without Latinos there would be no business," she said.
The owner said she would consider permanently closing the business if fear does not subside.
The owner of La Esperanza, a local Hispanic bakery around the corner from Pupuseria La Bendicion, instructed their lone employee to close the shop if ICE comes again.
"If there is no revenue, why should I open?" said the owner, who asked not to be identified by name for this story.
The owner of another small business, the Hispanic restaurant La Casita de Chave, estimated her sales have been cut by more than half since the raid.
Customers now fear coming in and picking up food, she said, and some are having trusted friends or family members retrieving orders for them.
'No economic evolution'
Axel Fuentes is a friend of Chavez's and leads the Rural Community Workers Alliance, a group that helps immigrant workers. He said when business dwindles in the small town and part of its population looks to leave, the economic situation looks bleak.
"These are small, rural towns that lack a lot of resources," Fuentes said. "If there are no people, there is no economic evolution, there is no progress."
Chavez had lived and worked in Milan for seven years before being detained by ICE.
In an email, an ICE spokesperson cited Chavez's undocumented status as the reason for his detention.
Since the raid, Fuentes has continued to host workshops in homes and local businesses to educate people about their legal rights. He wants to empower people to continue to live and work.
"Finding the bread of every day is not a crime," Fuentes said.
This story was originally published by the Missouri Business Alert, a fellow member of the KC Media Collective.
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