Ariela Lopez, Contributing Photographer

Around 25 New Haveners spent Sunday evening at Salsa’s, a Mexican restaurant on Grand Avenue, helping to revive a longstanding Fair Haven tradition of community investment in local businesses.

Lee Cruz, a community advocate who spearheaded Sunday’s event, said he thought of the idea after visiting eight restaurants and bodegas and two barber shops on Grand Avenue two weeks after the Presidential inauguration. Cruz learned that business was down between 15 and 50 percent since Jan. 20, even when owners took into account the typical lull in business in the winter. He attributed this decline in business to fears among the businesses’ immigrant clientele of running into federal immigration authorities. 

With these circumstances in mind, Cruz and his wife Sarah Miller, an alder representing parts of Fair Haven, organized a “community dining out night.”

“It’s a way for us to say to those business owners, ‘Hey, we see you,’” Cruz said at a Feb. 6 meeting of the Fair Haven Community Management Team, which he co-chairs. “They need help now. So if you can afford to do it, please visit them. Please let them know you’re from the neighborhood … Let them know that we really want them and appreciate them.”

Alexis Ramirez, a bartender at Salsa’s and the restaurant’s owners’ son, believes that around 50 to 60 percent of the restaurant’s regular customers have been absent, many because they chose to leave the United States to reunite with family members in their home countries.

Since President Donald Trump re-assumed office on Jan. 20, he has issued executive orders as part of his restrictive immigration agenda, including suspending refugee admissions into the U.S. and slashing federal funding for “sanctuary cities” like New Haven, which discourage local law enforcement’s cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

“It’s been quite the change since the new president took office,” Ramirez said. “When the executive orders took place, a lot of people weren’t coming out at all.”

Ramirez said that his parents appreciate the community dining night attendees’ support for Salsa’s.

In addition to encouraging New Haveners to patronize immigrant-run businesses like Salsa’s, Cruz hopes to combat misinformation about the threats federal immigration authorities pose for city residents. 

Cruz has begun distributing “know your rights” flyers and laminated red cards to business owners, which remind residents in Spanish and English of their constitutional rights to keep their doors shut, remain silent and not sign any documents when interacting with federal immigration officials. He hopes business owners will pass the information along to their clientele, tamping down the fears that have led to this drop in business along Grand Avenue. 

Cruz said that he knows of no evidence of Immigrations Custom Enforcement agents operating in New Haven, but that sightings in other Connecticut cities have sparked fear and uncertainty among New Haven’s immigrant communities.

“There are a ton of rumors — that’s the worst,” Cruz said.

Cruz also stressed his hope that New Haven’s immigrant communities won’t lose faith in the New Haven Police Department and other city employees, especially since they are mandated by a 2020 “welcoming city” executive order to not ask residents about their citizenship status or assist federal immigration authorities.

At Sunday’s dinner, attendees ordered nachos, pollo con mole poblano and other Mexican dishes, and talked and laughed together over Salsa’s colorful cocktails.

Chandra Roxanne, a Fair Haven resident since 2010, attended the dinner to show her support for the neighborhood’s businesses.

“We want to put money back into our community,” Roxanne said.

Sunday’s dining out night was the latest incarnation of a Fair Haven tradition dating back over a decade. Roxanne said that she attended her first community dining Out the weekend after she moved to the neighborhood. According to Roxanne, until the COVID-19 pandemic, Fair Haven residents held community dining out nights and “soup nights” — potlucks held at a neighbor’s house — that alternated each month.

Alders from across the city — Westville, Downtown, Wooster Square, East Rock and Fair Haven — attended the dinner. Alder Frank Redente, who represents Fair Haven’s Ward 15, sat with Eli Sabin LAW ’26, the alder for parts of Downtown and Wooster Square.

“Salsa’s has always been a great partner,” Redente said, mentioning that the restaurant has been a popular spot for campaign events and post-Fair Haven Day meetups.

Several alders in attendance voiced support for a recurring dining out night, at various restaurants. Miller said that she hopes to feature restaurants outside of Grand Avenue and Ward 14, which she represents.

On their way out, Cruz and Miller expressed hope that New Haveners would continue to patronize local businesses through community dining out nights — which they claimed were easy to organize — and suggested that the next event might be held in about a month.

Salsa’s is located at 99 Grand Ave.