Tables at El Golfo Restaurant in Silver Spring are mostly empty these days.

Even though the eatery, in a heavily Hispanic neighborhood, can serve more than 100 customers, a typical weekday may draw only a handful for lunch, manager Blanca Perez said.

“Some days it’s two tables and four customers. Some days it’s one table. Some days it’s four tables,” she said in Spanish. “Latinos are not coming out because they are scared. They are not coming out for anything.”

Perez said the restaurant, which opened about two decades ago, has seen profits dwindle about 30% since this time last year.

Two employees had to be cut in the past two months, she said. Although the restaurant’s clientele used to be about 30% Hispanic, she estimates Hispanic customers are now 3% or fewer.

According to those who keep track of the sector, businesses such as El Golfo are suffering for two reasons. They are bearing the brunt of a softening economy, and immigration crackdowns are frightening away customers. The restaurant’s troubles are also part of a national trend, according to a recent study from a nonprofit that lobbies for tax reform.

“It’s going to get worse before it gets better,” said Mauricio Vásquez, executive director of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Montgomery County.

Heavy immigration enforcement is shrinking the Hispanic workforce in areas such as construction, he said, while keeping potential patrons away from businesses.

Many immigrants across the nation are avoiding businesses where Latinos tend to work and gather, fearful that a meal at a pupuseria or a day’s work at a job site risks detention and deportation.

Disappearing jobs

But economic pressures that have little to do with immigration policy are also buffeting Latino businesses.

“We have businesses in the chamber that import goods from Latin America. Coffee, for example,” Vásquez said. “When all of a sudden you have 10% tariffs on imports ... you have to pass on to your clients or providers.”

A study released this month by Americans for Tax Fairness, a progressive advocacy group based in Washington, determined federal policies are crippling job growth in businesses that employ Hispanic people.

“Job growth in industries with high Latino employment — like construction, manufacturing, and health services — collapsed during the first eight months of the Trump administration compared to the same period in 2024 under President Biden,” the study concluded.

“Industries with a high concentration of Latino workers created nearly 300,000 fewer jobs from January to August 2025 than during the same months in 2024 — a decline of over a third (35%),” according to the report.

Empty chairs

Jaime Alfaro, owner of Terra Mare Restaurant & Bar in Wheaton, said the flagging economy and rigorous federal immigration enforcement have severely hurt his business.

Terra Mare had no customers in the midafternoon Wednesday. The only people eating there were four employees. The restaurant, which serves mostly Italian fare and some Latin American dishes, can serve more than 230 customers.

Profits are down 25% to 30% from the same time last year, Alfaro said.

“It’s about surviving,” he said. “It’s tough right now.”

Alfaro’s is one of many Latino businesses in the Wheaton Triangle, formed by the boundaries of University Boulevard, Veirs Mill Road and Georgia Avenue.

He said the rising cost of food and supplies is also hurting his bottom line.

He said he knows many of his customers are staying home for fear that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will detain them.

“It’s affecting our business. It’s affecting our community,” said Alfaro, who is from El Salvador. “Unfortunately, it’s hurting people who are paying taxes, who are doing positive things.”

At El Golfo, Perez said, white and documented customers have been keeping the restaurant afloat. Business tends to pick up on the weekends, when the restaurant offers live music. Catering is also helping, Perez said.

Perez, who has roots in El Salvador, said she believes some Hispanic customers are sending their documented relatives to pick up food.

Vehicles carrying ICE officers, Perez said, have often been seen in the neighborhood.

She said she fears the worst because the restaurant’s remaining customers are also trying to make ends meet.

“I worry about keeping the doors open.”