Constellation Brands, the maker of top-selling Modelo and Corona beers, says sales are struggling because of Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation fears.
The company’s beer sales dropped two percent in the second fiscal quarter of 2025, CNBC reported. Hispanics account for about half of its beer sales.
Bill Newlands, CEO of Constellation Brands, said during an earnings call Wednesday ICE raids were making it hard to predict consumer spending, per CNBC.
Newlands said its Hispanic customers are “very interested in beer,” but “occasions on which beer is consumed have decreased,” Yahoo Finance reported.
The CEO said Hispanic consumers are “not going out to eat as much as they had, they’re having less social occasions at home.”
Constellation Brands’ worse-than-expected earnings and revenue were also caused by President Donald Trump’s tariffs on aluminum, according to the company.
Trump’s mass deportation plan is in full swing. Last month, the White House announced ICE had made more than 100,000 arrests since Trump took office for the second time.
The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown has put fear into America’s Latino and Hispanic populations, with some too afraid to leave their homes.
The New York Times wrote in late June of the fear in Los Angeles, which was the site of mass protests over ICE immigration raids that month: “Increased immigration raids and patrols by masked officers have stifled one of the largest and most established Latino communities in America, causing what residents and officials describe as a Covid-style shutdown of public events, street life and commerce.”
Constellation Brands isn’t the only company to see sales slip in recent months, partly because of Hispanic consumers staying home in fear of ICE.
Coca-Cola’s sales volume in North America fell three percent in the first fiscal quarter.
The beverage company’s CEO James Quincey said on an earnings call on April 30: “In addition to challenges with severe weather and calendar shift, volume was impacted by weakening consumer sentiment as the quarter progressed, particularly among Hispanic consumers,” Yahoo Finance previously reported.
