LATONIA, Ky. — Since taking office, President Donald Trump has signed several executive orders aiming to crack down on illegal immigration.
Rumors of raids and mass deportations have led to fear for many people in Latino communities around the country, including here in Kentucky. Spectrum News 1 spoke to a business owner in northern Kentucky who says he’s trying to help ease those concerns for people in his community.
The Latonia Bodega celebrated being open for a little over a week with a ribbon cutting on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025.
Sergio Gutierrez said bodegas can be found on every corner where he’s from in New Jersey, and wanted to bring that mom and pop feel to Latonia.
“It’s been really awesome. We’ve been getting welcomed by the community, and the neighbors. It’s been a really nice experience so far,” Gutierrez said.
This venture with his girlfriend, Alyssa Adkins, is the third Gutierrez family business in northern Kentucky.
“I’ve met probably almost every neighbor in the five surrounding blocks,” Adkins said. “With the way the economy is going, there’s a lot of businesses going out of business right now. So we feel extremely grateful to still have our restaurant and our deli. And we feel very grateful to be in the position to be able to give more to the community rather than take away.”
Covington City Commissioner James Toebbe was there for the ribbon cutting. He described how far the building had come.
“For the longest time, when you would go by here, the windows were always blacked out. The front door was always locked. It was either vacant, an apartment, I believe it was a halfway house at one point,” Toebbe said. “You bring a sense of community. You’ve done it with Olla, you’ve done it with Gutierrez Deli.”
Gutierrez opened the Olla Taqueria after his father opened Gutierrez Deli.
“I grew up in my dad’s deli. I just had kids so I kind of want to do the same thing for my kids so they grow up and hopefully they like it, and they continue doing what we do,” he said.
Hailing from Mexico, his father instilled that passion for community. The family has previously organized Day of the Dead and lowrider events in Covington.
“Different generations of Hispanic people are here. And for me, I’m second generation, I’m able to speak English and Spanish very well. And I’m able to help those that can’t,” Gutierrez said. “Sometimes they don’t know where to get certain things. It can be as simple as some kind of product they’re looking for or a household thing that they need. We’ve been able to help them out, point them in the right direction. We try to do whatever we can to help people, because the only reason why we are the place that we’re in is because other people have helped us. So we want to continue that.”
He said it’s been difficult seeing the fear many in this community are experiencing following executive orders to crack down on illegal immigration. The Department of Homeland Security said it was ending a policy that restricted ICE agents from arresting undocumented people at or near places of worship, schools and hospitals.
“It’s been hard man, because a lot of people are looking and coming to us for answers that sometimes we don’t have. We just tell them if they’re scared to go out or anything, we’re willing to take the stuff to them. There’s been a lot of our American customers that have even said, hey if there’s anyone that is scared to go out, or scared to go get their kids or anything, we’re willing to volunteer,” Gutierrez said.
The Trump administration has stated increased enforcement will be focused on migrants with criminal backgrounds. But Gutierrez said fear still exists, even for people like his father who are documented.
“To them it’s like, it’s better for them to stay quiet, because they don’t want a repercussion from it. So now for us, the new era, it’s up to us to speak up for people who can’t,” he said. “The people are scared to work. People are scared to send their kids to school. It’s gonna impact everyone. When a lot of these essential workers aren’t showing up to their jobs. We’re gonna see it in the way prices of things are gonna start going up. So we just hope that we get past this.”
Since opening the bodega, Gutierrez said they’ve received incredible love and support, but have also seen hate. He prefers to focus on the former.
“This situation is letting us know who’s with us and who’s not,” he said. “I think that if we stick together, we will be able to get through this.”
ICE has reported making arrests in the high hundreds per day over the last week, higher than what was carried out on average with the previous administration.