‘Now, there is fear everywhere': How Trump's immigration crackdown has permeated R.I.'s smallest city, home to a big Latino population

Boston Globe

3 days ago

As the Trump administration ratchets up
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Though Rhode Island's neighborhoods have not seen the same level of ICE activity as
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While it is Rhode Island's smallest city, Central Falls is the state's only majority-Latino city, with the highest percentage of Latinos of any community in the state, according to 2020
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The small city has produced big stars, such as actor
But it has also faced big challenges, becoming a hot spot for
Maya said fear is now more palpable than during the pandemic. When she attends Mass at the Holy Spirit Parish, she said she sees fewer parishioners in the pews. Out on Broad Street, there are noticeably fewer people dining in the restaurants.
'This is much, much worse,' Maya said. 'During COVID, while we were all afraid of getting sick, we were at home, trying to take care of ourselves.'
A pedestrian on Broad Street entered Central Falls, R.I. Residents report that the threat of ICE enforcement has driven some people to "self-deport" and others to limit their time outside, affecting local businesses.
Lane Turner/Globe Staff
Now, people go to work, to church, and to school amid the fear that ICE agents will scoop them up and ship them back to countries they have not seen in decades, where they have nothing, she said.
Rhode Island is home to
an estimated 29,000 undocumented immigrants,
said.
In April, the Department of Homeland Security placed Central Falls —
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Betancur said residents of
Central Falls and other targeted communities are bracing themselves
now that Trump's '
'It's going to be really, really bad,' Betancur said. 'They have so much money. They will have the resources. They have very few limitations and checks and balances. Who is going to stop them?'
Betancur said some people are making the excruciating choice to 'self-deport' rather than risk being snatched up by ICE and separated from their children. Families who came here for opportunities and safety are concluding 'this place is no longer safe,' she said. 'They are being persecuted just as much as they might have been at home.'
To be sure, some support Trump's immigration policies.
In 2024, Trump saw gains across Rhode Island. In Central Falls,
Rhode Island Republican Party chairman Joe Powers said, 'When 42 percent of Rhode Islanders say this is what we want, and then he executes on it, there really shouldn't be any pushback or anything of the sort to say, you know, we didn't realize this is what he was going to do.'
Trump's policies are 'restoring fairness and protect the public's safety,' Powers said. And people who have not broken laws have nothing to be afraid of, he said.
Central Falls Republican City Committee chairman Luis Sandoval said he comes from a family of Mexican immigrants who are citizens. 'I'm all for immigration, but we are all about doing it the legal way,' he said. 'It's disrespectful to skip the line when you have a lot of people who are trying to come here the legal way.'
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But others say Trump is going too far by uprooting lives and creating fear.
Central Falls has not seen the level of ICE activity that has made the news in places such as
Joceline Andrade, a local immigration attorney, said, 'Sometimes you see fear in their eyes. People are just taking it day by day.' She said some residents are avoiding social gatherings and family events, lest a commotion catches the attention of authorities.
'Everything feels much emptier,' David Molina-Hernandez, of Fuerza Laboral, a local grassroots labor and workers' rights organization. 'It's a city that has a lot of vibrant life in the summers, just for being Central Falls. And it's something that we're seeing less this year.'
Pedestrians passed a shop on Broad Street in Central Falls, R.I., on July 22.
Lane Turner/Globe Staff
A welcome sign at Central Falls Landing in Central Falls, R.I.
Lane Turner/Globe Staff
In a survey by Fuerza Laboral, about a dozen small businesses in the city reported a 10
percent to 40 percent drop in income since Trump took office earlier this year, according to community organizer Jeremy Cumplido.
'Realistically, it's only a matter of time before some of these businesses are at risk of closing,' he said.
Rhode Island
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'You won't have folks performing these tough jobs, prices are going to up, and they are ripping families apart,' he said.
Former Central Falls City Council member
But hundreds of people still turned out to dance at the city's Salsa Night in June, according to Solano.
Anusha Alles, an outreach coordinator with the Rhode Island Deportation Defense Network,
said
it's 'not just helplessness' in Central Falls these days. Residents are also organizing and 'stepping up for each other as well,' Alles said.
The
Alles said network workers are knocking on doors across Central Falls to inform people about it.
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Maya first came to the United States in 1987 to visit her brother, who'd had a stroke. She stayed five months, working at a Pawtucket factory. She returned to Central Falls in 1989 and gave birth to her daughter.
As a single mom, she needed help with child care and returned to Colombia. But she came back to Central Falls in 2000 and worked at a jewelry factory.
Maya's daughter,
Betancur,
36, recalled hearing the term 'anchor baby' in high school. 'When you are a kid of immigrants, you are always made to feel your citizenship is not the same,' she said.
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Myriam Maya, left, and her daughter Marcela Betancur, say the threat of mass deportations is causing anxiety in the small majority-Latino city of Central Falls, R.I.
Lane Turner/Globe Staff
Betancur was disturbed by Trump's
'People like me may not be impacted, but people just like me are going to be considered second-class citizens in the future if the order takes effect,' she said. 'Because of my mom's status 36 years ago, according to (Trump), I am not American enough.'
Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at