TULSA, Okla. — Ambasio Melo sells oranges from the back of a truck at Plaza Santa Cecilia.
His little business sits between food trucks ordinarily busy with the lunch crowd during a Friday noon hour. But Jan. 24, almost no one showed up to buy his oranges.
"Not just me," he said, "but all of 'em real slow - like the trailers here maybe see like two, three people all day, all week 'cause people are scared to go shopping or go to work."
He told 2 News the reason is on their phones. Fake social media posts popping up in the wake of President Trump signing a flurry of orders he said would crack down on illegal immigration.
Some posts warn people to stay away from certain parts of Tulsa, claiming U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents target those areas.
Melo said, "You see the videos on the phone, and people got scared."
He wonders how he will earn enough to pay his bills and feed his family if those who usually shop in this east Tulsa location with many Hispanic-owned and operated businesses are now afraid of the area.
On Jan. 23, posts began popping up claiming to warn people about ICE agents in the Oasis Fresh Market in North Tulsa.
Charlie Love with Oasis flatly denies agents were inside or outside the market. She told 2 News once the fake posts popped up, her business dropped off.
She's combating the rumors with humor, "The only ice we have is sold in 20-pound or 7-pound bags."
And by putting up her own posts in English and Spanish, letting her customers know "the post about ICE visiting our store is false" and asking people to share the truth.
We checked the Tulsa County Jail and found zero ICE bookings on Jan. 24.
ICE confirmed to NBC News that federal agents did arrest 538 people Thursday in various parts of the country, including Boston. The figure is nearly double the daily average of its arrests on Sept. 24.
Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere --
- Download our free app for Apple, Android and Kindle devices.
- Sign up for daily newsletters emailed to you
- Like us on Facebook
- Follow us on Instagram
- SUBSCRIBE on YouTube
