Hispanic woman threatens to call ICE on taco street vendors. Now she’s saying her own business is ‘ruined’: ‘I’m afraid’
She is left to face the consequences of her actions.
With Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deporting countless immigrants across the country despite proper documentation, the fear of being caught on their radar is still high. One Hispanic woman in Santa Clarita, California, allegedly leveraged that fear by threatening to call ICE agents on the owners of a taco street stall. Now, she’s facing public backlash following the incident.
The confrontation was first shared by Dre Torres (@dretorres818) on TikTok, and later re-shared by @LongTimeHistory on X, where it has since gained over 1.4 million views. In the video, a woman identified as Francesca Ortega is seen recording a taco vendor operating on the sidewalk along Pico Canyon Road. Ortega is heard yelling and hurling insults at the vendor in Spanish.
According to FOX 11, Ortega claimed the taco stand was hurting other businesses that pay rent in the area, arguing that their reputations were at risk because the vendor’s stall was allegedly cheap and lacking in class. “Stinky old woman, I’m going to call ICE,” Ortega told the vendor in Spanish. She also called the vendor an “illegal piece of trash,” claimed they weren’t a “hardworking person like me,” and labeled them as criminals, among several other insults.
Hispanic woman faces backlash for weaponizing ICE
The public’s reaction to the confrontation online was firmly on the vendor’s side, with many left in disbelief that a Hispanic allegedly threatened another Hispanic. “Hispanics calling ICE on other Hispanics… this is really sad. ICE has turned people against their own people,” one comment read.
Another chimed in: “Her dumba** is going to get them both deported. I will never understand why anyone that is already a target by the regime would go out of their way to poke the bear. What a true shame this all is.”
Others, however, noticed that Ortega left her young child unattended. “This b**** left her baby in a stroller on the side of the road to make a TikTok video being a racist???” a commenter wrote. A second commenter added, “Somebody should call Child Protective Services on her. Who leaves their baby so far behind them, on a busy street while starting s***?”
When the video gained traction online, Ortega said she was hounded with hostile messages and that her business was heavily affected. “I have a small cleaning business called Excellence Cleaning Pros in Santa Clarita, and they completely ruined it,” Ortega said in a second video shared by LongTimeHistory. “They flooded it with negative reviews.”
Ortega says her business is ruined following the incident
Ortega, who grew up in Mexico, said the incident also resulted in her family being constantly harassed on every social media platform. “They are threatening me. I’m afraid to go outside,” Ortega said, sharing her mounting fear that her address was doxxed and her concern for her business and family’s future. “We had excellent, perfect reviews, and it got flooded. Flooded by these insane, horrible Latino people.”
Ortega reportedly admitted that she changed her business’ phone number on Google, listing a stranger named Ricardo Morales’ number instead after he sent a scathing message to the woman. As a result, Morales ended up receiving the texts and calls meant for Ortega, and condemned the woman’s actions: “It’s crazy that somebody can be that vindictive and not want to own up to their actions.”
Ortega claimed the reason for the confrontation was that she was worried Santa Clarita was becoming too much like Mexico. “Look at how LA looks. Look at Santa Monica. It’s been getting worse and worse because nobody does anything,” she told FOX 11.
Ortega, however, insisted that she didn’t intend to say anything hurtful, adding that “people say ugly things when they’re upset,” which she claimed was triggered by the vendor taking a photo of her license plate. Meanwhile, the vendor allegedly has permits to operate the street stall, which is reportedly a requirement in the City of Santa Clarita.
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