Fall River plows forward amid tariffs and harsh immigration policies
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His company, which serves the broader Portuguese-speaking diaspora from Cape Verde, Brazil, and beyond, prefers to recruit bilingual workers, but over the last few years that has become tough and the recent changes in immigration policies have likely worsened that challenge.
Even though Benevides only hires workers with documentation, 'the well is drying up in terms of people' regardless, he said.
Michael Benevides is the Vice President of Portugalia Marketplace, a Portuguese specialty grocery store in Fall River. His business imports the majority of the products it sells which are subject to tariffs, he said.
John Tlumacki/Globe Staff
Businesses like Portugalia are grappling with
Local businesses are trying to find ways
to mitigate against the impact of tariffs, said
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'If the tariffs are really going to raise their prices or raise their costs significantly, they've got to be careful with what they do,' he told the Globe. 'We've got . . . companies that are really concerned about what's happening overseas with the tariffs.'
Immigration troubles, too, have rippled through some sectors of Fall River's economy, like manufacturing and hospitality.
'The hospitality field really has to work to find new ways to recruit people. Because those workers, they're just not available,' O'Sullivan said.
Fresh prepared food for sale at Portugalia Marketplace, a Portuguese specialty grocery store in Fall River. The business imports most of its products from abroad.
John Tlumacki/Globe Staff
But the crackdown
'It's naturally going to have an impact across all the sectors,' O'Sullivan said. 'There's a large number of immigrant employees who live in Fall River, that live in New Bedford, and vice versa. So, I mean, it's a significant impact.'
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'What's happening a lot is people are in hiding, they're a little nervous to come out and be loud,' she said. 'They don't know what could happen.'
Some entrepreneurs in the region are choosing to do less marketing and increasingly rely on word of mouth to attract business, she said.
'Times are tough, so I think that we need to pull them together a little bit more,' Moniz said.
But while things have slowed down for the community, there is also a sense that people need to just move forward despite it all.
'When you're running a business and you're investing, in many cases, your life savings and you've got your family working there . . . and that's how you've chosen to support your family . . . you have to keep plowing forward, and you have to just keep working hard,' O'Sullivan said.
Benevides at Portugalia said that Fall River needs its immigrants to bolster its workforce.
'As an immigrant, I think we need immigrants. We need immigrants to work,' he said. 'We've had tremendous success with immigrants.'
A row of salt fish including salted cod for sale at Portualia Marketplace in Fall River.
John Tlumacki/Globe Staff
Fall River, long a Democratic stronghold, went for Donald Trump in November,
But there could be buyer's remorse among some voters as they see the extent of the changes his administration is imposing, said
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'I think people have now become frustrated,' he said. 'It's not what they expected, it's not what they bought into, not only on immigration policy, but a whole bunch of other policies that are taking place. So I think, collectively, they're disappointed.'
Three men walked past a mural on the side of a business in Downtown Fall River as they walk along South Main Street.
John Tlumacki/Globe Staff
Mayor Paul Coogan said residents in Fall River are preoccupied by basic things such as housing costs, wages, and how much they pay for their groceries.
'It's a bread-and-butter community,' he said. 'When the rubber meets the road, they're worried about the blue-collar issues.'
Fall River tends to be centrist in its politics, according to Fiola.
'The running joke is we're either conservative Democrats or liberal Republicans,' he said. 'We're sort of in the middle as a city, but I think they'll have their voices heard when they don't like what things are going on on the national level.'
Omar Mohammed can be reached at
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