Nineteen-year-old Julia, born in the United States to undocumented immigrants from Mexico, traditionally enjoyed attending the annual Día de los Muertos festivities in Henderson, Kentucky. J ulia, a 19-year-old born in the US, and her parents, undocumented immigrants from Mexico, enjoyed attending the Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebration each year in Henderson, Kentucky, and selling aguas frescas, horchatas and a sweet bread traditionally eaten on the Mexican holiday. Which takes place over several days, dates back thousands of years to the Aztecs, who believed that death was just part of a larger cycle of existence, día de los Muertos. Souls of the deceased can return to earth to be with their loved ones, the popular belief is that during the holiday. As such, the living build ofrendas to welcome their spirits. He moved to Henderson, almost 40 years ago. According to “It had to be at a private location where not anyone could walk in, that wasn’t open to the general public, and we had to make sure that parking was close to the door, so people didn’t have to walk really far to get to their car,”, Raquel Castro, who runs the city’s division of youth opportunities and co-founded Casita Cultura Latina, which organizes the city’s Día de los Muertos celebration. A local retailer, Planet K, canceled its annual Día de los Muertos celebration, which it started holding 20 years ago, amid the effort to expand its footprint.
She and her family sold traditional beverages like aguas frescas and horchatas alongside sweet holiday breads, and last year created an ofrenda adorned with flowers and a violin to honor her grandfather, who played the instrument before passing away in Mexico in 2023.
However, organizers in the town of 27,000 residents called off the 2025 celebration due to widespread concerns that Immigration and Customs Enforcement might target undocumented attendees. Brad Schneider, the county judge and executive who co-founded the gathering, noted that the immigration climate was so contentious that Latino community members made it clear they would stay away. Organizers of the event in the town of 27,000 people canceled the party in 2025 because of concerns that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would use it as an opportunity to arrest undocumented immigrants, unfortunately. “It was a huge hit, much to our surprise,” Schneider said. According to but in 2025, local Latinos were “reading the newspaper, And media accounts, children were separated from adults, and that was all very scary for people”, Schneider said. Instead, they held smaller events and did not announce them on social media. According to “It’s not easy to exist and to still bring joy in dark times, and we thought it was really important to do so,”, Castro, who immigrated from Ecuador, of why they held the party.
This year, Henderson is among several American cities restarting public celebrations, even as ongoing federal deportation operations continue to cause anxiety. The shifting decisions highlight how ICE enforcement efforts impact daily community life across the nation, though comfort levels vary by region. The decisions over whether to hold a public Day of the Dead celebration reveal that while in some parts of the country, ICE does not incite the same worries as a year ago, the agency’s ongoing deportation efforts still unnerve many Latino immigrants across the US, and that is having a serious impact on community life.
Reflecting on the return of the event, Julia expressed trust in local leadership regarding safety. According to “I trust in the leadership that we have in our community, and if they believe it’s safe to have it, then I trust in that,”, Julia, who is studying political science and secondary education in college.
Schneider explained that after watching the 2015 James Bond film Spectre, which opens during a Mexico City festival, he consulted local restaurant owner Abraham Brown about launching a celebration in Henderson. Brown told him it was a great idea.
The inaugural 2019 event featuring mariachi bands and Mexican food proved surprisingly popular, drawing crowds as the local Latino population grew to approximately 5%. According to the Census Bureau, he has since watched as more Latinos moved to the area; they now comprise about 5% of the local population. The celebration has included mariachi bands, Mexican food, a faux graveyard where people decorate headstones, and face-painting.
Other cities have also brought back their festivals.
In Long Beach, California, city council member Mary Zendejas requested cancellations last year over enforcement fears but supported reviving the event to preserve cultural traditions. Meanwhile, Worcester, Massachusetts, organizers who held secret, small-scale gatherings last year successfully hosted a public park event on October 24 for about 2,000 attendees under the theme Amor como resiliencia.
Despite these community revivals, federal enforcement activity remains robust. Deportation Data Project figures show that monthly arrests and detentions rose through June and July. In San Antonio, Texas, ICE recently secured office leases valued at $51 million to prepare a 1,500-bed detention facility, prompting a local retailer to cancel its decades-old Día de los Muertos event. Its monthly arrests and detentions actually increased in June and July, according, while the agency has avoided some of the negative publicity it generated during its operation in late 2025 and early 2026 in Minneapolis. In San Antonio, ICE recently signed leases worth $51m for two office spaces and is preparing to open a detention center that can house 1,500 people per day, the San Antonio Express-News reported. In July, federal agents arrested eight people there, the Hendersonian reported.
