A woman filmed threatening to call US immigration authorities on taco vendors in Santa Clarita, California, says the backlash has devastated her cleaning business, while a man who criticised her claims she redirected the abuse by posting his telephone number online.
Francesca Ortega was recorded confronting vendors at a taco stand and speaking to one of them in Spanish. She called the woman “vieja jedionda” — translated as “stinky old woman” — before saying she would call Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
In the footage, Ortega also accused the vendors of being criminals and complained that the stand was damaging nearby businesses. She described it as cheap and unsuitable for the area.
The video spread rapidly online, prompting angry messages and a wave of damaging reviews for Excellence Cleaning Pros, the Santa Clarita company Ortega says she spent a decade building.
In a video posted online, she said: “Now all of my livelihood is ruined, the business that I worked so hard to build for 10 years.” She also claimed that the company’s previously positive reviews had been overwhelmed by hostile posts.
Ortega told FOX 11 that she had become upset after one of the vendors photographed her car’s number plate. She said she had not intended to threaten or harm anyone, describing the incident as a confrontation during which people had said “ugly things”.
She also said she did not want Santa Clarita to “turn into Mexico”, arguing that the area had changed significantly over the past two or three decades.
Ricardo Morales, who sent Ortega a critical message after seeing the video, said he began receiving angry calls and text messages about 40 minutes later. Ortega confirmed she had changed the phone number listed on her Google business profile to Morales’s number.
“I’m getting calls from all the United States,” Morales said, accusing Ortega of being vindictive. He added that there was “no reason to be harassing people on the street”.
Ortega said she had changed the listing because she was being harassed and the calls would not stop. Morales, however, said he continued to receive unwanted calls after his number was posted.
The City of Santa Clarita requires sidewalk food vendors to hold a city permit as well as the relevant Los Angeles County public health approval and other licences. The city’s rules apply to vendors operating from stands, carts and other non-motorised equipment in public areas. ([santaclarita.gov](https://santaclarita.gov/community-preservation/sidewalk-vending/resources/?utm_source=openai))
It remains unclear whether the taco stand involved in the confrontation held the required permits.
