Ana Bernal Hernandez’s family business wouldn’t be what it is today without the Broadacres Marketplace.

Her family got its start at the popular North Las Vegas flea market 10 years ago as a side hustle. They sell gorditas — a sort of thick tortilla with a pocket in the middle stuffed with fillings such as cheese and meats. Their recipes incorporate flavors from Sinaloa, Mexico, where Bernal Hernandez’s parents, Mariela Hernandez and Alfredo Bernal, are from.

Today, the family runs two food stalls at Broadacres, their gorditas stand, Gorditas El Fogón, and a Sinaloa-style taco stand, Chilorio’s, as well as a standalone location across the street from Craig Ranch Regional Park, less than 5 miles northwest of the swap meet. 

“My dad used to work in construction so we never imagined that we would become restaurant owners,” Bernal Hernandez said in Spanish. 

About 50 years after it opened in North Las Vegas, Broadacres Marketplace is more than just an outdoor flea market. It has become a cultural hub for Latino community on the weekends, where families can come to dance to live banda  — Mexican folk music — drink micheladas made of beer, tomato juice and chili lime seasoning and shop for products from their home countries. 

One of the largest employers in North Las Vegas, with hundreds of vendors on 45 acres, Broadacres has also opened the door for families such as Bernal Hernandez's to start their own business. 

Less than a month ago, the family celebrated its 10th anniversary selling gorditas at Broadacres surrounded by their loyal customers as a mariachi group sang “Las Mañanitas” — a traditional Mexican birthday song — for the family business. 

But two weeks later, Broadacres announced it was temporarily closing “out of an abundance of caution and concern for its community” because of the ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids. 

“We don’t want any of our customers, vendors or employees to be detained at our business or for us to be a beacon of shopping and entertainment while our federal government is raiding businesses and detaining its people,” the business announced in a June 21 statement posted on social media. 

The announcement came days after an ICE raid at a similar swap meet near Los Angeles. President Donald Trump’s promise of mass deportation and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department recent partnership with ICE have left many in the state’s Latino community — who have billions in spending power — riddled with anxiety about going out in public to places that could become targets for sweeps because of their strong ties to immigrant communities. 

Those fears are now having economic consequences for Nevada’s undocumented population of nearly 200,000 — almost 6 percent of the state’s population.  

Broadacres Marketplace management did not respond to a request for an interview for this story. As of Wednesday, Broadacres hasn’t announced when it will reopen, though the business has said on social media it will be soon. 

In the meantime, some of the Bernal Hernandez family’s customers have migrated to its standalone location, but many have told them it’s not the same as eating out at the swap meet, which describes itself as a place that “feels like home.” 

“The hustle and bustle are missing, the life is missing because Broadacres is all about the people, the culture,” Bernal Hernandez said. “It's such a beautiful place when it's full.” 

Businesses hurting

Bernal Hernandez said she noticed a decrease in foot traffic at Broadacres a few weeks before the temporary closure was announced. She added that the market was nearly empty the Friday night before the closure.

She said she’s also seen a rise in to-go orders at all their locations since deportation fears have escalated in Trump’s second term. 

“Many of our customers who work in construction used to come and take their breaks here … but now they prefer to eat on the go for fear that something might happen to them,” she said. 

Peter Guzman, president of Las Vegas’ Latin Chamber of Commerce, said other Latino restaurants have reported slowdowns. He said he can’t say for certain if it's because of the immigration raid fears or other economic pressures. 

He noted that the Latino community, which makes up about a third of the state’s population, is crucial to the state’s economy. Latinos produced $46 billion worth of goods and services in Nevada in 2022, and $3.6 trillion nationwide, according to a 2024 report from the Latino Donor Collaborative, a California-based nonprofit think tank.

Another report from the left-leaning American Immigration Council found that Latinos in Nevada have $19.1 billion in spending power as of 2023. 

“Everything will start being affected if folks stay home,” Guzman said. 

‘Now they're messing with people who are working’

The Nevada Republican Party said in a June social media post that if the swap meet “can’t stay open without illegal aliens,” it doesn’t deserve to be open at all. 

The statement drew swift backlash from Democratic state lawmakers such as state Sen. Fabian Doñate (D-Las Vegas) and Assm. Cecelia Gonzalez (D-Las Vegas). Then, the GOP account tagged ICE in another post, inviting officials with the Trump administration to investigate Doñate’s family members, some of whom are undocumented.

Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo told the Las Vegas Review-Journal he doesn’t condone the NV GOP’s statement and said “attacking people’s families should be off limits in politics.” 

The NV GOP did not return a request for comment. 

“It is always interesting to me that Republicans offer themselves to be pro-business, but then the second that a business closes, either they do a no comment or they make fun of us,” Doñate said in an interview with The Nevada Independent. Doñate says he also felt threatened by the post about his family. 

“To separate my family members, knowing full well the predicament that we're in, is uncalled for,” he said. 

Even some Latino supporters of Trump are feeling the crunch. Javier Barajas, the owner of the Mexican restaurant franchise that includes Lindo Michoacan in Las Vegas, said that although he continues to support the president, escalated immigration enforcement activity has him worried. 

Barajas, who hosted a campaign event for the president and was formerly undocumented, posted a video on TikTok last weekend urging Trump to provide a pathway to citizenship for immigrants who “work hard, follow the law and love this country” and “don’t go to protests.”

“I agree with him taking out all those who come to live off the government, who don't come to work,” Barajas said in an interview with The Indy. “But now they're messing with people who are working, who are doing good for this country.” 

Although Barajas said that business has remained steady for him, he is worried that the enforcement will eventually affect the spending power of his Latino clientele. 

“Those people who worked at the swap meet won't be able to go eat at restaurants anymore. They won't be able to go to stores, they won't be able to go to the movies,” Barajas said. “It's like a circle that affects you.”

Although Bernal Hernandez’s family has its Craig Road location to fall back on while Broadacres is closed, the standalone restaurant hasn’t been immune to the decline other businesses are seeing, which affect not only them but the livelihood of its nine employees at their three establishments. 

“People are spending less, they are going out less, and unfortunately one of the first things people do when they start to save money is they don’t go out to eat any more,” Bernal Hernandez said. 

Looking ahead

As Broadacres remains closed, Bernal Hernandez said her family has been offering its Broadacres employees’ shifts at its Craig Road location in the meantime to lessen the blow on their paychecks. 

Bernal Hernandez said she hopes that lawmakers see the value of the Latino community and their businesses and move to protect them. 

“Lawmakers need to see that we put a lot of money back into the economy, and they have to find ways to protect vendors, not criminalize us for having hustles,” she said. 

Doñate and other lawmakers said that they are having “preliminary discussions” with Metro to discuss immigration enforcement. Although it's difficult to implement policy now that the legislative session is over, Doñate said that if they “are not satisfied” with what's occurring at the local level, then they will have hearings through interim committee meetings to make sure that elected officials are held accountable. 

“When some people in Nevada are afraid to call it their home, or even to exit their home, that's a problem, both economically, but also in terms of the quality of life,” Doñate said.