A group of laborers in dirt-streaked orange hoodies chat as they gather around tables pushed together at El Guanaco, a Salvadoran restaurant tucked away in a strip mall in north St. Louis County.
The mood in the dining room is convivial as scents of steaming baleadas, fried plantains and burritos fill the air. A patron at the checkout counter raves about the pupusas — thick, handmade griddle cakes made from cornmeal, often filled with beans, cheese and meat — and declares them the best in St. Louis.
But the atmosphere at El Guanaco has tensed since President Donald Trump took office last month. The president’s Day 1 executive order to immediately crack down on and deport those without legal status in the United States has put some small businesses, like Dinora Soler’s, in the crosshairs…