CHOWCHILLA – When Irma Morales opens Milleniums Hair Cutz & Beauty Salón each morning, she no longer sees the same familiar faces that once filled her chairs.
“If my clients can go a little longer without cutting their hair, then they will,” Morales said. “So business has been slowing down, but I understand why.”
Morales said her Hispanic and Latino clientele stopped coming in as often, leading to a noticeable slowdown in business, an impact she believes is tied to a rise in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests across California and the nation.
Data from the University of California, Merced study backs her suspicion.
It found intensified enforcement coincided with a 3.1% drop in private sector labor participation statewide — a decline comparable to the Great Recession and COVID-19 — while the Fresno Chamber of Commerce warns enforcement-driven worker anxiety is threatening the Valley’s economic stability. 
A few blocks away from Morales’ salon, the same shift is being felt at Chowchilla’s Taco Shop, owned and operated by Maria Martinez. Once a regular lunch stop for groups of blue-collar workers, the restaurant now feels quieter.
“Some of the groups of men who used to come in and spend time eating here don’t come anymore,” Martinez said. “You can see it.”
For David Gonzalez, 23, a Madera resident whose real name is not being disclosed to protect his identity, the decline in customers reflects something much deeper — fear.
“They see us as a menace to society,” Gonzalez said.
He said simple routines like getting a haircut, grabbing lunch during a break or walking freely through the streets no longer feel safe. The anxiety stems from heightened ICE activity across California, which recent reports show has included aggressive arrests, detentions of individuals without criminal records and arrests carried out by masked ICE agents.
Gonzalez also said he has watched his community grow increasingly frightened as ICE presence intensified.
On Jan. 7, 2025, Gonzalez heard a news report describing a Customs and Border Protection operation at a gas station in Kern County, roughly two hours away from Madera, where undercover officers detained two vanloads of undocumented people.
As reports of increased ICE arrests spread throughout Madera County, where 20.2% of the population is foreign-born, widespread alarm rippled through the community.
Local events organized by his friends were canceled, and Gonzalez said that at the flea market in his hometown of Madera, fewer vendors showed up as concerns about deportation spread through the community.
For Gonzalez, whose work involves political campaigning, canvassing in local elections and community outreach, the nature of his job forces him to remain on high alert. For his own safety and that of his team, he would use ICEBlock, an app where users can report and track ICE activity in surrounding areas.
“We would get precincts on where to go, and I would always check out what’s the best route to go, what’s the best plan for me and my team,” Gonzalez said.
ICEBlock was later removed from the App Store following pressure from the Trump administration, which cited concerns that the app could endanger law enforcement officers by sharing real-time location information.
The constant unease of not knowing whether a family member or even himself could be deported on any given day persists, despite his family and himself having no criminal record. Gonzalez said that unease is often mixed with anger, as he questions why he has to live in fear in a country he has called home since he was a toddler.
“At a certain point, it’s not about doing it the right way,” Gonzalez said. “It’s more like they just want to have more control.”
Nora Zaragoza-Yañez, a valley watch network program manager for Faith in the Valley, a rapid response network that supports Central Valley residents facing immigration enforcement, explained that ICE has been operating more quietly. She said ICE often relies on legal strategies to detain people rather than the more visible enforcement seen in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
“We’re not seeing the mass raids as we’re seeing them in other parts of the state,” Zaragoza-Yañez said. “What we are seeing is a lot more targeted… they’re getting people on technicalities.”
Faith in the Valley serves eight counties across the Central Valley, including San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Fresno, Kings, Tulare and Kern.
Zaragoza-Yañez said the organization’s rapid response network works to verify reports of suspected ICE activity, connect families to resources and coordinate legal observers and accompaniment teams.
She said legal observers and volunteers aim to be present during court hearings and immigration check-ins. Not to interfere, but to ensure accountability and provide support for individuals who may feel vulnerable.
“Sometimes it’s just about being there,” Zaragoza-Yañez said. “Showing up, letting people know they’re not alone, and making sure there are eyes on what’s happening.”
In her outreach and education work, Zaragoza-Yañez said that immigration enforcement isn’t affecting just one community.
“This isn’t solely a Hispanic and Latino community issue,” she said. “This is an everyone issue.”
Across the Central Valley, the impact of immigration enforcement reaches far beyond those directly detained, showing up in empty barber chairs, quieter restaurants and communities that no longer move with the same ease.
For residents like Gonzalez, those changes reflect a deeper cost, one measured not only in lost business but in the constant calculation of when it is safe to simply live.
“As long as there’s community, there’s hope,” Gonzalez said. “So long as there are people willing to show up, share resources and look out for one another, I feel like there’s a way forward.”
