Walking into Houston’s Dreamers: Books + Culture, the sign at the entrance reading “I.C.E. IS NOT WELCOME HERE!” offers the first clue about what kind of small business you’ve entered.
The second, for those with a discerning eye, is a mural of a monarch butterfly—a beloved pollinator known for its 3,000 mile journey of migration through Texas and into Mexico during the cold winter months.
The symbolism is hard to miss.
Migration is also at the heart of the political fight that’s spurring local businesses like Dreamers to act. The Trump administration has indicated it wants to see daily immigration-related arrests double to 2,000 a day.
Elizabeth Farfán-Santos opened Dreamers two years ago to provide books and other resources to the Spanish-speaking community. Her store joined about 50 Houston East End businesses in speaking out against Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE)’s latest escalations, leading to the brutal killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo.
In July, Houston organizers led a city-wide shutdown, asking businesses to close in a call for “no business as usual”. Instead of closing her doors, Farfán-Santos remained open, giving Houston’s Latino community a space to exist and process without the pressure of spending money. Farfán-Santos’ business served as a place of refuge for immigrant communities across the city during the day of protest.
Farfán-Santos participates in city-wide political events, hosts community gatherings in her shop, and distributes fliers containing crucial information on anticipated ICE activity. For Farfán-Santos, this is business as usual, and comes with the territory of who she is.
“Some of us don’t have the privilege of not being involved in politics. I would love nothing more than to just be able to sell books and not be afraid that my father is going to be taken because he goes out in his work van. Or not be afraid that my son is going to be picked up at his high school because of the color of his skin,” said Farfán-Santos.
“I would love nothing more than to be able to just sell books and it not being about the very definition of my humanity. Maybe one day we will be able to, but not in this country and not right now.”
Farfán-Santos’s fears come on the heels of an increase in ICE arrests made in Houston and Texas more broadly. In February 2026 alone, ICE made 7,100 arrests—1,660 of those were in Houston.
Farfán-Santos isn’t the only business owner in Second Ward protesting these attacks on Houston’s immigrant communities.
Melody Vanatta is the owner of Houston Tooth Gems, a luxury cosmetic business down the street from Dreamers that creates semipermanent jewelry for teeth. Vanatta’s tooth gems range from items like genuine diamond gems to more ornate gold charms reading “F*CK ICE.” It’s these provocative words that have been directly benefitting FIEL Houston, an immigrant rights group leading much of Houston’s local organizing against ICE—Vanatta donates nearly half of the proceeds from each sale to this group.
Sales have reached clientele from around the country, but she hopes to reach more Houstonians.
“Even though Houston is so big, multicultural, and diverse, it still feels pretty fragmented,” Vanatta said.
“I’ve lived here my whole life, and I don’t see people from one side of Houston coming to help the other side of Houston. But I was surprised that there wasn’t a larger reaction. It’s been pretty isolated to the East End and I’m a little disappointed, you know?”
Vanatta’s reaction to the siloed response makes sense when considering that 1 in 4 Houstonians is an immigrant, and 21% of Houston’s population—1,640,000 people—are undocumented immigrants or live with an undocumented immigrant.
Political resistance is something that businesses across Texas are becoming more willing to engage in as tensions between immigrant communities and law enforcement heighten.
In North Texas, the owners of a small bakery came under fire earlier this summer for voicing their disapproval of the Trump administration on social media. Hive Bakery is currently working to meet the rising demand for its “F*CK ICE” cookies following their viral explosion online.
Haley Popp, owner of Hive Bakery and two-time Food Network champion, is no stranger to mixing business with politics. Popp has been selling themed products and baked goods to benefit immigrants, LGTBQ+ and other human rights organizations for years. But this activism has not been without consequence. Popp and her coworkers have experienced severe harassment at their Flower Mound location, from car keyings to called-in death threats.
“ We got inundated with phone calls around the clock for two weeks straight of nothing but death threats, harassment, people calling us names,” Popp said.
Popp said that once the backlash dies down, the attention only boosts her business, with her loyal customers making sure she can’t keep cookies on the shelves for long.
“I’m against this idea that you’re eliminating 50% of your customer base. They were never my customers to begin with. So thank God they don’t come here because I just don’t care,” she said. “There are so many important things happening in the world right now that if you have a platform of any kind and you’re not saying anything, that kinda makes you a piece of sh*t.”
For some business owners, their customer base is communities affected by ICE.
At Oh Yeah Cakes, a bakery in the Southtown neighborhood of San Antonio, owner Lori Hernandez holds fundraisers throughout the year to donate money to RAICES Texas, a free and low-cost legal aid organization that helps immigrant communities.
For Hernandez, much of her work against ICE is behind the scenes.
“I know there are other bakeries in Texas who are doing ‘f*ck ICE’ cookies and stuff like that. That’s awesome. For me, I’m trying to put my money where my mouth is,” she said. “But I think what Hive Bakery is doing should be commended. Maybe I am a little bit afraid to go that far.”
Regardless of how businesses speak out, Hernandez highlighted the importance of not staying quiet during times like this, noting that Houston’s collective reaction to the murder of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was enough to turn the tables on ICE, if only for a little while.
“It’s important as a person, not just a business owner, to make it clear where you stand on issues like this. I know it’s kind of advised not to mix business with politics. But there are just certain things that are dangerous to stay quiet about,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez highlighted the success of Houstonians in pressuring ICE to temporarily pause traffic stops, underscoring the necessity of the same in San Antonio, which is home to a significant Mexican-American population.
“All of my neighbors look like they fit the profile of someone who ICE would arrest or kill. My husband and dad look like they fit the profile of people that can be harassed just for driving around and existing. If nobody speaks up, they’re just gonna get more brazen in how they operate,” said Hernandez.
Taking a stand against ICE isn’t easy for business owners. Entrepreneurs ultimately take inspiration from each other and from others doing the same.
“I look to people like Miss Rachel out here doing the Lord’s work. She’s speaking up for children all around the world—in Gaza and in these concentration camps here in the United States—and it makes you feel completely empowered to do the same,” said Popp. “Now isn’t the time to hide, now is the time to speak.”
