The second busiest retail corridor in Chicago is typically a bustling area dotted with taquerias and Mexican grocery stores in the southwestern part of the city. By Monday afternoon it had turned into a ghost town.

Activists monitoring for immigration arrests said they had seen no activity, but the threat of deportations continues and the local community should remain alert.

I’m in Chicago where immigration raids are rumored. A restaurant owner just broke down crying, she lost 30% of her clientele, they’re staying indoors. “Esto se va a poner feo.” whether there are raids here or not the $ blow, fear is already here. And people say that’s the point.

Restaurants and other businesses in Little Village, the city's second-busiest retail corridor, are seeing heavy worker absenteeism.

A bustling shopping district in Chicago known as the “Mexico of the Midwest” has seen foot traffic plummet by 50% — as residents say they fear the immigration raids promised by President Trump. The sidewalks were empty and some businesses were closed along a two-mile stretch of shops and restaurants on 26th Street in Chicago’s Little Village — the Windy City’s second busiest retail corridor — as Trump was sworn into office Monday.