LAUREL, Del.- Don Miguel Barrueta came to the United States in search of a dream.
"All immigrants come here with the goal of making a better life for ourselves and our families, by working hard and trying to better ourselves," says Don Miguel.
He had picked up jobs installing and removing carpet to help provide for his family when he came up with an idea.
"In Mexico I used to work in restaurants and just to bring in some extra income, I began selling tacos outside of our house," says Don Miguel.
But in 2007 in the wake of the recession, Barrueta and his family found themselves in a tough position.
"The first couple of months were difficult because there weren't really any customers. There were weekends where we didn't sell anything and I would tell him this is not working out," says Isabel Barrueta, Don Miguel's daughter.
But Don Miguel kept preparing and perfecting his recipes.
"He kept going and there came a time where he had customers waiting for his food outside of the house. He got so many customers after they tried his food and that's how Tacos Chabelita started," says Isabel, referring to the Barrueta's restaurant on Route 13 in Laurel.
"To see this business grow from something we only did on the weekends in the back of a garage to being an actual restaurant where people can sit down, eat, have a drink. It's beautiful to see how my dad's hard work you know actually means something," says Javier Barrueta, Don Miguel's son.
And while it has been a dream come true for the Barruetas to share their love for Mexican cuisine with the community, they have also faced racism.
"She was being really rude she threw the food back at me and said, 'This is why I support Trump so they can kick people like you out of this country,' and I was like, 'You have a great day ma'am,'" says Javier.
"A customer was upset at us and she told us that, 'That's why the president needs to build the wall,'" says Isabel.
"They got angry and a person said a racist slur at one of our workers and it's sad, but it's like an everyday thing now," says Don Miguel.
"I know that when I have students who have suffered racist slurs, racist aggression. They've been extremely distraught and for a long time, and it takes a toll on them and on their families," says Dr. Persephone Braham, a professor of Spanish, Latin American, and Iberian studies at the University of Delaware.
"There is a constant sort of rolling backdrop of anti-Latinx racism in this country," says Braham.
And that it has also perpetuated myths and negative stereotypes about Latinx communities.
"It's over and over been demonstrated that immigrants in general and immigrants from Latin America in particular contribute hugely. In 2018 for example, the Latinx population in Sussex County paid $50 million in taxes and overwhelmingly they give more than they take, much more than they take," says Braham.
Braham also adds that Latinx immigrants bring so much more than their cultures and cuisine to this country.
"If they were to disappear, our food supply chain would be severely impacted," says Braham.
According to the U.S. Census Latinos make up 85 percent of all farm workers in this country and 53 percent of all food service employees. Also, according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, nearly half of meatpacking workers across the country are Latino.
Braham also says you cannot divorce the products of immigrant effort from them as human beings.
"If you're eating Chinese food and dehumanizing the Chinese wait staff, that is unethical, and we can't just take a part of a person or a particular talent of a person and separate it from their whole personhood," says Braham.
And while it has been difficult for the Barruetas to navigate these experiences with racism, they continue to to persevere despite the obstacles that come their way.
"We treat people with respect and humility and we are proving that we work hard to earn what we have and that we are not the negative stereotypes that they might think," says Isabel.
"We're hard workers and we're never going to give up and as long as you have your mind set on something and you work hard, you'll achieve it," added Javier.
And with Don Miguel getting older, his children are looking forward to giving their dad a bit of rest after all of the countless hours, days, and years of hard work.
"I want to continue his legacy. It was never in my plans, but because it's a family-run restaurant and given all he has sacrificed, it motivates me to keep it going," says Isabel.
"I'm incredibly proud of her," says Don Miguel.
"It's beautiful to see that the restaurant is busy and we'll all be working as a team and to see that my dad is sitting right there with a beer in hand and finally getting to sit back and all those years after cooking all the food preparing everything and getting to sit back and enjoy los frutos de su labor...Enjoy the fruits of his labor," says Javier.
And that tight familial bond.
"That might be one of the strongest factors in Latinx communities not giving up in the face of adversity and racism," says Braham.