South Sioux City, Neb. — Business owners and immigrant advocacy groups in South Sioux City say foot traffic has fallen and customers are staying home amid fears of Immigration and Customs Enforcement roundups since President Donald Trump returned to the White House in 2025.
The city of about 14,000 on the Missouri River has been shaped for decades by successive waves of newcomers drawn to jobs at nearby meatpacking plants, including Tyson Foods’ large beef-processing complex outside the city. Many storefronts along Dakota Avenue feature Mexican, Somali and Laotian businesses that residents and municipal officials say depend on steady daily commerce tied to plant employment.
Longtime food-truck operator Anita Martínez, 72, said sales have dropped by roughly half and she has noticed customers staying away because they fear immigration enforcement.
“The United States gives us so much. Let’s hope to God that things go back to the way they were,” said Martínez, who has operated Doña Ana’s Lonchera on Dakota Avenue for two decades.
Her daughter, Noemí Castro, told the newspaper that the idea of the American Dream feels different now for many families in the city.
Abdikadir Moalim, director of a local nonprofit that assists recent immigrants, said the community has grown more anxious since large-scale federal immigration operations and public rhetoric about deportations intensified after the 2024 election. Moalim described clients who avoid public spaces and limit travel because they fear encounters with federal agents.
economic ties and population change
South Sioux City’s demographic change mirrors patterns across parts of Nebraska where meatpacking plants and other food-processing facilities recruited immigrant and refugee labor over past decades. The Globe and Mail reported that the city resettled people from Latin America, East Africa and Southeast Asia, a mix that local leaders say has supported small-business growth and helped sustain the regional workforce.
- Employment center: Tyson Foods’ plant outside South Sioux City remains a major employer drawing immigrant workers.
- Local commerce: Dakota Avenue hosts taquerias, Asian groceries and Somali shops that rely on regular customer traffic from the community and plant shifts.
- Community services: Local nonprofits provide settlement services and outreach to residents navigating employment, housing and immigration matters.
Advocates and some residents told the Globe and Mail that aggressive federal enforcement can have ripple effects on local economies when workers reduce hours or avoid jobs because of enforcement fears. The reporting includes several residents’ accounts of reduced patronage at restaurants and shops.
City officials and plant management were not quoted in the article. The reporting situates South Sioux City among communities in rural and small-town America where immigration has reshaped Main Streets and local labor markets over decades.
Questions about federal enforcement, community policing and worker protections have been raised by local leaders and immigrant-rights groups in many states. In Nebraska, those conversations intersect with statewide debates over the role of immigrant labor in agriculture and food processing and the effects of federal policy on local economies and public safety.
