Barrio Obrero, the Dominican heart of Puerto Rico, is torn apart by ICE raids: 'It's a city under siege'

https://english.elpais.com/usa/2025-06-01/barrio-obrero-the-dominican-heart-of-puerto-rico-is-torn-apart-by-ice-raids-its-a-city-under-siege.html

Barrio Obrero, the Dominican heart of Puerto Rico, is torn apart by ICE raids: ‘It’s a city under siege’

President Donald Trump’s policies are spreading terror in a neighborhood of the U.S. territory considered the epicenter of the island’s immigrant community

PAOLA NAGOVITCH
San Juan (Puerto Rico) - JUN 01, 2025 - 00:00 EDT

What for years had been the beating heart of the Dominican community in Puerto Rico is now a city under siege. At ten in the morning on a hot, idyllic May day, the streets of Barrio Obrero — located in San Juan, the capital of the U.S. territory — are nearly empty. “Before, by this time you could already hear the velloneras,” laments Pastor Nilka Marrero, who has spent over a decade serving the area’s immigrants. She’s referring to the record-playing machines in the businesses surrounding the neighborhood’s main square, once a lively gathering spot that today stands deserted. “They used to play salsa: ‘Del Barrio Obrero a la 15, un paso es…’” she sings, quoting Puerto Rican salsa artist Willie Rosario, as she taps out her own rhythm on the table. But not anymore. Months of immigration raids ordered by the Trump administration have silenced this neighborhood, where the fear of being detained or deported is overwhelming.

“This is a city under siege — you never know when they’re going to come and arrest you, sometimes without a warrant or any explanation. It’s terrifying,” adds the reverend of the San Pablo Methodist Church, located on the corner of the Antonio Barceló Plaza in Barrio Obrero. On Wednesday morning, she is coordinating a team of volunteers gathered in the congregation’s dining hall to bag food — canned vegetables, beans, various types of cookies, juices. In the afternoon, they’ll distribute the bags throughout the neighborhood, going directly to the homes of immigrants who, out of fear of being detained, have given up even going to the supermarket. Some of the volunteers say that the community is so terrified that sometimes people don’t even want to open the door of their homes to receive the food.

In Puerto Rico, the first immigration raid of Donald Trump’s second administration took place on January 26, six days after the president took office. The small Caribbean island of 3.2 million people is a U.S. territory, and although it has its own local government and constitution, it is controlled by the federal government. Therefore, the policies dictated by the Trump administration in Washington — including those pertaining to immigration — also apply here, where the population is made up of U.S. citizens who cannot vote for the president and have no meaningful representation in Congress.

That January Sunday marked a turning point in Barrio Obrero. Around noon, federal agents descended on the area in patrol cars and even an armored military vehicle. They detained people on their way to Pastor Marrero’s church, one man who was heading out to buy an avocado to go with his lunch, others were simply hanging out in front of a local business... “They started breaking down doors violently. Right across the street, they took two fishermen. The daughter, who has cancer, lost her father and brother — the ones who supported her,” the pastor recalls. In total, authorities arrested 47 individuals, two of whom were later released because their papers were in order.’

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