For one Atlanta grocery store owner who relies on undocumented immigrants, the future is murky

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For one Atlanta grocery store owner who relies on undocumented immigrants, the future is murky

Atlanta, Georgia — Inside El Progreso Supermarket in Atlanta, Georgia, the price of a gallon of milk can at times be what brings in or drives customers away.

Luz Hernandez opened her first grocery store in 2014, one of four she owns across the Atlanta metropolitan area. She says high food prices are the No. 1 problem her customers are currently dealing with.

“They used to come in to buy food…with $100,” Hernandez said. “Now it’s $300.” 

At El Progreso, essentials like milk and cheese are staples for her mainly Latinos customers. The products provide a taste of home for Hernandez, an immigrant from El Salvador who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in 1996 at the age of 16. She became a U.S. citizen in 2012.

Now a business owner, Hernandez says she is focused on what is ahead. She says she voted for President Trump last November because of his stance on the economy.

“Because the economy is one thing, and immigration is another thing,” Hernandez explained. “And you have to, like an owner, decide what is more affect right away to my customer.”

Since taking office, Mr. Trump has implemented a major crackdown on ******** immigration, and more than half of Hernandez’s employees are undocumented. It’s a fact she knows could have a major impact on the future of her business.

“If Donald Trump say he’s going to fix the economy,” said Hernandez on how she balances her feelings on those two issues. “I don’t think he is going to fix the economy without my customers.”

Mr. Trump has vowed to enact the largest mass deportation effort in U.S. history. However, Hernandez doesn’t see a world where the president can fix the economy while deporting many undocumented immigrants.

And she admits such a scenario could potentially require her to close her stores.

“I cannot handle it with no employees,” Hernandez said. “And I cannot handle it with no customers. Impossible.”

Nicole Valdes

Nicole Valdes is a correspondent based in Nashville. Valdes was most recently a weather correspondent with FOX Weather. Since joining FOX Weather in 2021, Valdes covered breaking and developing weather-related news for the streaming service. Valdes reported from nearly 40 states, leading network coverage of Hurricane Ian’s impact on Florida, as well as countless tornadoes, flood, and wildfires. As a proud bilingual journalist, Valdes put her skills forward to produce and report an in-depth piece on Hurricane Maria’s impact to Puerto Rico. Prior to this role, Valdes worked as a reporter and fill-in anchor in Phoenix, Arizona, where she led the station’s coverage of the 2020 Presidential election. She was also a multimedia journalist for the CBS-affiliate in Fort Myers, Florida. Valdes graduated from the University of Florida in Gainesville.

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