Fear of immigration enforcement can reshape the public life of a business. It can limit what owners say to reporters and distort the picture communities get of who is building, hiring and investing locally.<\/p>\n
That was one of the clearest takeaways from Technical.ly reporter Alice Crow\u2019s recent appearance on City Cast Pittsburgh, where she discussed her reporting on how heightened ICE enforcement is affecting immigrant entrepreneurs<\/a> in the region.\u00a0<\/p>\n Alongside the economic strain, she described a climate in which even speaking on the record can feel dangerous.<\/p>\n \u201cI saw the increase in arrests. I saw the increase in the raids,\u201d Crow told City Cast Pittsburgh executive producer Mallory Falk. \u201cAfter reporting on immigrant entrepreneurship<\/a> in the past, I thought, well, what\u2019s the effect?\u201d<\/p>\n Reporting on the topic has become difficult. <\/p>\n \u201cI started calling around to people I knew,\u201d Crow said, \u201cand people were generally scared about drawing attention to themselves in any way.\u201d<\/p>\n The business owner at the center of the recent Technical.ly article agreed to speak only on the condition of complete anonymity, without even initials published. The concern was not abstract, Crow said, noting that business owners already worry that public comments can carry a financial cost, especially when customers, critics or bad-faith actors are paying attention.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a recent Public Source article that kind of speaks to this, that even business owners who are not immigrants, who are just speaking out about how they don\u2019t like ICE enforcement tactics, they can receive backlash<\/a> that affects their business,\u201d Crow said.<\/p>\n