Carlos Raba, co-owner and executive chef of Remington’s Clavel, says he has already lost two employees because of President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration policies.

A dishwasher from Nicaragua returned to his country on Saturday. Another employee, who Raba described as his “right hand,” also left the restaurant in recent days, to return to Honduras.

“They don’t want to be incarcerated or handcuffed. Who wants to be treated like that?” said Raba, who was nominated as the James Beard Award’s Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic in 2022. He also owns Nana, a taqueria in Towson.

Across the Baltimore region, immigrants, regardless of status, have responded to Trump’s tough talk and early moves on immigration by altering their routines.

Some have pulled back from more public venues. Others, including Raba’s employees, are avoiding the scrutiny of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and are leaving the country.

People who work with the immigrant community said they have noticed a significant dip in attendance at church services, in school and at outreach programs ranging from recreational to educational.

They attribute that decrease to a frightened population. Some are undocumented, some are scared of getting caught up in sweeps even if they are documented, and there’s widespread intimidation from the government’s anti-immigrant sentiment.

In his first month as a returning president, Trump has signed at least 10 orders and actions related to immigration, many of them controversial. Federal judges have blocked his effort to end birthright citizenship for children of parents who are in the U.S. illegally. His administration has fanned talk of mass ICE raids, and said it is stepping up use of a U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay as a detention for migrants.

Trump has repeatedly said the crackdown on immigration is a result of an effort to reduce crime. His administration has also said that the act of entering this country illegally is a criminal act. Opponents have pushed back on both assertions.

Making immigrants so uncomfortable that they voluntarily return to their home countries is a goal of the Trump administration, said Vanessa Cardenas, executive director of America’s Voice, a national pro-immigration organization based in Washington, D.C.

“Fear, cruelty and chaos is the point,” she said. “That is the most troubling about this situation that we face right now.”

Annette Karanja, a Baltimore County community activist working primarily with the East African immigrant population, said she knows of an immigrant who recently quit her job at a cleaning company because she felt “super exposed at the workplace.”

“People have adjusted their behavior. They are more vigilant,” Karanja said. “They are less likely to interact with government institutions” such as those that provide food assistance.

Because many immigrants are from mixed status families, they are also hesitant about being so visible, Karanja said.

About 13,000 undocumented people reportedly live in Baltimore, according to the most recently available Census data. The city’s foreign-born residents make up about 8% of the city’s total population, or about 45,000 people, city officials say.

Mark Parker, the councilman representing Southeast Baltimore’s District 1, has seen a decreased presence among immigrant populations.

After a report last month of ICE agents arresting people at a food distribution parking lot in Montgomery County, there was a 30% drop in the number of immigrants going to Baltimore City distribution locations, Parker said he has been told by distribution operators.

Even though the report about the ICE arrests in Montgomery County was later found to be false, Parker said he and others needed to convince parishioners to return to the feeding ministry at Breath of God Lutheran Church in Highlandtown, where he is an associate pastor.

“It’s hard for people to make decision when they don’t know what information they can trust,” he said.

He said Sunday morning bilingual worship services have seen an 80% drop in attendance among Latino congregants since January.

But other churches with large Latino congregations haven’t seen their pews emptying. Father Ako Walker, pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church in Highlandtown, where migrants make up 95% of the 2,500 families that attend, said he believes that people have strengthened their faith during these tense times.

Instead, Walker has been told that, outside of church, his migrant congregants are trying to keep out of public places, staying indoors “as much as possible.”

“There is the fear that ICE might nab them,” he said.

One Honduran member of the church who has lived in the United States for the past 16 years, said his family has stopped frequenting restaurants, stores and other establishments “because of the fear that surrounds them.”

The church member, who requested anonymity for fear of deportation, owns a furniture store and said Trump’s policies have created apprehension for them to operate it.

He said he is not alone in his feelings.

“l can see the fear in the parishioners,” he said, adding that he is undocumented and has never committed a crime.

The groups that Cardenas’ organization works with are reporting noticeable absences among immigrants, particularly in schools.

“People are pulling back,” she said. “There is a lot of concern about people being able to function day-to-day.”

The reticence among parents was evident late last month at Baltimore City College when the school was abuzz with unsubstantiated reports of ICE showing up on the campuses. At City College that day, multiple parents did not want to be named when interviewed by a Baltimore Banner reporter.

Officials with the Baltimore City and Baltimore County school systems did not respond to a request seeking recent attendance data.

Mary Kate Schneider, director of global studies at Loyola University Maryland, is not surprised to hear that immigrants have become less visible since Trump has come into power.

“They have done the job of drumming up fear among the population,” she said. “This is absolutely by design.”

Trump’s actions in his second term have been much “swifter” because Trump has been able to remove “institutional obstacles” he faced his first presidency, she said.

“Courts are more favorable to him,” Schneider said. “He’s been quick to assemble a team of loyalists around him.”

Baltimore Banner reporters Ellie Wolfe and Maya Lora contributed to this story.