Small-business owners in Portland, Maine, weigh whether to speak out on immigration — and what it could cost

• Business Insider spoke to business owners in Maine about their response to increased immigration enforcement.
• One restaurant owner faced online backlash after posting a "No ICE" sign.
• Some are debating how best to support immigrant communities ahead of a planned protest on Friday.

After Andy Gerry and his business partners put a "No ICE" sign in the window of their lobster roll shop in Portland, Maine, backlash followed quickly.

Gerry said dozens of bad reviews flooded the restaurant last week after lists circulated online of area businesses that had hung "No ICE" posters following the federal government's announcement that it would increase immigration enforcement in the state.

For Gerry and his co-owners at The Highroller Lobster Co., it was one more challenge of running a small business.

"The posters are up, and they're not coming down," Gerry said.

Business Insider spoke with a half-dozen local business owners, including Gerry, about their decision to take a stance on immigration agents' presence in Portland, including whether to post signs.

Also on the table: Should they go along with calls for shutting businesses and schools on Friday as part of what organizers hope will be a nationwide campaign.

Gerry said that some owners he's been speaking with favor taking part in the stoppage, and others are calling for businesses to remain open to divert profits to groups helping immigrants.

Already this week, Gerry said, he's flip-flopped over whether to keep the restaurant open on Friday. His current thought: Close for the day and donate weekend proceeds to charities helping those affected by the immigration sweep.

These are the sorts of calculations that many small-business owners across the US have considered over the past few months. The question has felt especially urgent lately in Portland, a seaside city of about 70,000, where immigration officials have had a more visible presence over the past week.

While some of corporate America's top executives have weighed in with statements about the immigration actions, some small-business owners — answering phones and facing customers directly — are making personal choices about whether to publicly take action.

Some workers and owners at more than a dozen businesses Business Insider visited didn't want to discuss the immigration issue because they said it didn't pertain to their day-to-day operations. Others said they didn't want to upset neighboring businesses or draw attention.

A 'white lady who can yell'

Gerry said he saw putting up the sign, created by a Portland artist, as a way to amplify his staffers' voices and support anyone who might be fearful of getting caught up in the immigration sweep.

He said he contacted restaurant review sites to flag the negative ratings, and he and his co-owners instructed the restaurant's more than 50 staffers on how to handle negative phone calls. He shared with Business Insider screenshots of commenters encouraging people to "review bomb" the restaurant.

Earlier this month, Eden Millecchia hung a "No ICE" poster in the window of her airy shop, called Flowers & Candy. The following week, she attended an online training conducted by a chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union about where federal agents are permitted to go within a business if they don't have a warrant.

Millecchia said she feels she's in a more privileged position to speak up than some other shopkeepers.

"I'm the white lady who can yell," she said.

Yet, Millecchia said, motioning toward the poster, the sign is a "hollow gesture" — other than the show of support it sends.

What is tangible, she said, is the drop in sales she's seen since word spread that immigration agents were focusing on Maine. For the long weekend that included Martin Luther King Day — which also included some unforgiving winter weather — her sales were down 91% year-over-year, Millecchia said.

"They killed my three-day weekend, and I think that it's going to keep people from coming here," she said, referring to the presence of federal officers.

That could mean fewer people will pick up the CBD products whose sales she relies on to help make rent. Another disruption: She plans to close on Friday to support the strike.

An ICE spokesperson told Business Insider that it doesn't comment on immigration enforcement operations. US Customs and Border Protection didn't respond to a request for comment.

How some businesses are responding

On the steps outside Arcana Maine, a shop that sits opposite a small park and sells jewelry and works by area artists, a circular table recently displayed free business-card-sized guides to rights enshrined in the Constitution. The cards were printed in English, Spanish, French, Arabic, Somali, and Kinyarwanda, which is spoken in parts of Africa.

An employee named Nico, who declined to give his last name, said that giving the cards a prominent spot was a way to help the community.

He estimated that foot traffic at the store had fallen by at least half from what's typical for January.

At a skate shop called Mocean, owner Jasper Tripp said he hung a "No ICE" sign because it aligned with his beliefs. Ordinarily, he said, he tries to separate his political views from the store he has run for nearly a decade.

"It just feels right," Tripp said of the decision to put up the poster. He worked with an artist to design an anti-ICE T-shirt. Proceeds from its sale will go to charities supporting immigrants' legal expenses, he said.

An 'economic responsibility'

For some business owners, concerns go beyond the risk of alienating customers. One restaurant owner said she plans to shut down for at least a week — and pay workers — while she's out of town. Ordinarily, she said, her employees would run the restaurant, which has an entirely Spanish-speaking staff.

She asked that Business Insider not use her name or that of her restaurant to protect her employees, who she said are legal immigrants but who nevertheless feel threatened.

She taped a "No ICE" poster to the door to help employees and customers to feel safe, not to denounce immigration agents, she said.

The balance is tricky, the owner added. "I have the responsibility to keep people safe. I also have an economic responsibility."