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Phoenix Businesses Suffer As Immigrants Leave Ahead of SB 1070

9 images Created 25 Jul 2010

Arizona's tough new anti-immigration law, SB 1070, goes into effect on July 29. It requires local police, who have had 90 minutes of immigration law training, to check the immigration status of anyone they have probable cause to believe may be in the US illegally. Some Arizona law enforcement agencies, like the Maricopa County Sheriff's Department, are promising to vigorously enforce the new law.

Hundreds, some say thousands, of Latinos who are in the Arizona illegally, have left the state in the last three months. Many businesses that cater to this community have suffered, none more so than El Gran Mercado (The Big Market), a flea market that caters to Mexicans and others from Latin America. The once bustling Mercado is now more like a ghost town. Some say business is down more than 60% since last year.

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  • July 25 - PHOENIX, AZ: An isolated clothing stall in El Gran Mercado. El Gran Mercado (The Big Market) in Phoenix is the largest flea market in the Phoenix area and has served the area's immigrant community for more than 20 years. With more than 150 small independent stalls selling Mexican clothes, cowboy hats, Mariachi music and food stalls selling Mexican favorites like birria chivo (goat stew) and menudo (tripe) it was more like a Mexican market than an American mall. Business in the mercado is down more than half this year because many immigrant families, legal and illegal, are leaving Arizona before the state's tough new anti-immigrant law, SB 1070 goes into effect on July 29. SB 1070 allows local police officers to check the immigration status of people they have probable cause to believe may be in the US illegally and requires immigrants to carry their immigration papers with them at all times.    Photo by Jack Kurtz
    ElGranMercado002.jpg
  • July 25 - PHOENIX, AZ: Oliver El Payaso (The Clown) makes balloons animals for kids in El Gran Mercado. Oliver said he's been a clown in the market for more than 16 years and that, "this used to be a good business. Now, nothing. Everyone is gone." El Gran Mercado (The Big Market) in Phoenix is the largest flea market in the Phoenix area and has served the area's immigrant community for more than 20 years. With more than 150 small independent stalls selling Mexican clothes, cowboy hats, Mariachi music and food stalls selling Mexican favorites like birria chivo (goat stew) and menudo (tripe) it was more like a Mexican market than an American mall. Business in the mercado is down more than half this year because many immigrant families, legal and illegal, are leaving Arizona before the state's tough new anti-immigrant law, SB 1070 goes into effect on July 29. SB 1070 allows local police officers to check the immigration status of people they have probable cause to believe may be in the US illegally and requires immigrants to carry their immigration papers with them at all times.    Photo by Jack Kurtz
    ElGranMercado005.jpg
  • July 25 - PHOENIX, AZ: Oliver El Payaso (The Clown) makes balloons animals for kids in El Gran Mercado. Oliver said he's been a clown in the market for more than 16 years and that, "this used to be a good business. Now, nothing. Everyone is gone." El Gran Mercado (The Big Market) in Phoenix is the largest flea market in the Phoenix area and has served the area's immigrant community for more than 20 years. With more than 150 small independent stalls selling Mexican clothes, cowboy hats, Mariachi music and food stalls selling Mexican favorites like birria chivo (goat stew) and menudo (tripe) it was more like a Mexican market than an American mall. Business in the mercado is down more than half this year because many immigrant families, legal and illegal, are leaving Arizona before the state's tough new anti-immigrant law, SB 1070 goes into effect on July 29. SB 1070 allows local police officers to check the immigration status of people they have probable cause to believe may be in the US illegally and requires immigrants to carry their immigration papers with them at all times.    Photo by Jack Kurtz
    ElGranMercado004.jpg
  • July 25 - PHOENIX, AZ: ANGEL GUTIERREZ, 12, plays pool in El Gran Mercado. El Gran Mercado (The Big Market) in Phoenix is the largest flea market in the Phoenix area and has served the area's immigrant community for more than 20 years. With more than 150 small independent stalls selling Mexican clothes, cowboy hats, Mariachi music and food stalls selling Mexican favorites like birria chivo (goat stew) and menudo (tripe) it was more like a Mexican market than an American mall. Business in the mercado is down more than half this year because many immigrant families, legal and illegal, are leaving Arizona before the state's tough new anti-immigrant law, SB 1070 goes into effect on July 29. SB 1070 allows local police officers to check the immigration status of people they have probable cause to believe may be in the US illegally and requires immigrants to carry their immigration papers with them at all times.    Photo by Jack Kurtz
    ElGranMercado007.jpg
  • July 25 - PHOENIX, AZ: GUADALUPE VALENCIA has her hair done by MARICELA RODRIGUEZ at El Gran Mercado. Rodriguez said she's been styling hair at the market for eight years and has never seen business as slow as it is now. El Gran Mercado (The Big Market) in Phoenix is the largest flea market in the Phoenix area and has served the area's immigrant community for more than 20 years. With more than 150 small independent stalls selling Mexican clothes, cowboy hats, Mariachi music and food stalls selling Mexican favorites like birria chivo (goat stew) and menudo (tripe) it was more like a Mexican market than an American mall. Business in the mercado is down more than half this year because many immigrant families, legal and illegal, are leaving Arizona before the state's tough new anti-immigrant law, SB 1070 goes into effect on July 29. SB 1070 allows local police officers to check the immigration status of people they have probable cause to believe may be in the US illegally and requires immigrants to carry their immigration papers with them at all times.    Photo by Jack Kurtz
    ElGranMercado016.jpg
  • July 25 - PHOENIX, AZ: JOSE ALVAREZ makes a phone call while he waits for customers in his shop selling cowboy boots and hats in El Gran Mercado. El Gran Mercado (The Big Market) in Phoenix is the largest flea market in the Phoenix area and has served the area's immigrant community for more than 20 years. With more than 150 small independent stalls selling Mexican clothes, cowboy hats, Mariachi music and food stalls selling Mexican favorites like birria chivo (goat stew) and menudo (tripe) it was more like a Mexican market than an American mall. Business in the mercado is down more than half this year because many immigrant families, legal and illegal, are leaving Arizona before the state's tough new anti-immigrant law, SB 1070 goes into effect on July 29. SB 1070 allows local police officers to check the immigration status of people they have probable cause to believe may be in the US illegally and requires immigrants to carry their immigration papers with them at all times.    Photo by Jack Kurtz
    ElGranMercado012.jpg
  • July 25 - PHOENIX, AZ: People walk among the stalls at El Gran Mercado. El Gran Mercado (The Big Market) in Phoenix is the largest flea market in the Phoenix area and has served the area's immigrant community for more than 20 years. With more than 150 small independent stalls selling Mexican clothes, cowboy hats, Mariachi music and food stalls selling Mexican favorites like birria chivo (goat stew) and menudo (tripe) it was more like a Mexican market than an American mall. Business in the mercado is down more than half this year because many immigrant families, legal and illegal, are leaving Arizona before the state's tough new anti-immigrant law, SB 1070 goes into effect on July 29. SB 1070 allows local police officers to check the immigration status of people they have probable cause to believe may be in the US illegally and requires immigrants to carry their immigration papers with them at all times.    Photo by Jack Kurtz
    ElGranMercado018.jpg
  • July 25 - PHOENIX, AZ: MARTIN MIRAMONTES, a Mexican national who has been in the US for 10 years, sings karaoke in a bar at El Gran Mercado in Phoenix. El Gran Mercado (The Big Market) in Phoenix is the largest flea market in the Phoenix area and has served the area's immigrant community for more than 20 years. With more than 150 small independent stalls selling Mexican clothes, cowboy hats, Mariachi music and food stalls selling Mexican favorites like birria chivo (goat stew) and menudo (tripe) it was more like a Mexican market than an American mall. Business in the mercado is down more than half this year because many immigrant families, legal and illegal, are leaving Arizona before the state's tough new anti-immigrant law, SB 1070 goes into effect on July 29. SB 1070 allows local police officers to check the immigration status of people they have probable cause to believe may be in the US illegally and requires immigrants to carry their immigration papers with them at all times.    Photo by Jack Kurtz
    ElGranMercado021.jpg
  • July 25 - PHOENIX, AZ: An abandoned bar in El Gran Mercado. El Gran Mercado (The Big Market) in Phoenix is the largest flea market in the Phoenix area and has served the area's immigrant community for more than 20 years. With more than 150 small independent stalls selling Mexican clothes, cowboy hats, Mariachi music and food stalls selling Mexican favorites like birria chivo (goat stew) and menudo (tripe) it was more like a Mexican market than an American mall. Business in the mercado is down more than half this year because many immigrant families, legal and illegal, are leaving Arizona before the state's tough new anti-immigrant law, SB 1070 goes into effect on July 29. SB 1070 allows local police officers to check the immigration status of people they have probable cause to believe may be in the US illegally and requires immigrants to carry their immigration papers with them at all times.    Photo by Jack Kurtz
    ElGranMercado022.jpg
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