Executives at Constellation Brands, the parent company of Modelo Especial, say the company’s recent sales slowdown is directly tied to President Donald Trump’s tough stance on illegal immigration.

Speaking during the company’s earnings call on Thursday, Constellation Brands CEO Bill Newlands pointed to reduced social gatherings among Latino consumers as a key factor behind the brand’s dip in performance.

“Efforts to go to restaurants, to have social gatherings, things that are very much beer occasions, have softened in the more recent term,” Newlands said.

He noted that Latino consumers make up roughly half of Modelo’s customer base and that internal research indicated that economic pressure, especially job losses in sectors with high Latino employment, have played a role in limiting typical beer-drinking events.

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Newlands’ comments were echoed by Andrea Teixeira, an analyst with J.P. Morgan, who suggested the company had previously benefited from more lenient immigration policies.

“We think the quick change in tone/outlook at least partially reflects the likely reality that the company was benefiting over the past number of years from loose immigration policy,” Teixeira said.

Constellation Brands has been publicly aligned with immigration policy advocacy in recent years.

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The company is a “direct partner” of UnidosUS, a nonprofit organization that promotes amnesty for illegal immigrants and is active in lobbying for immigration reform.

In September 2024, during the height of the presidential election season, Newlands held a meeting with Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), one of Congress’s leading proponents of amnesty.

“It was great meeting with Bill Newlands, CEO Constellation Brands. We discussed the need for immigration reform and plans to combat high grocery prices,” Durbin wrote at the time.

The company’s international strategy also came into focus during the same earnings report.

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Despite President Trump’s push to reshore manufacturing and business operations to the United States, Constellation Brands announced plans to continue expanding its brewery operations in Mexico rather than investing domestically.

“Fourth, against that backdrop, we are targeting to deliver approximately $9 billion in operating cash flow from fiscal ‘26 to ‘28, and approximately $6 billion in free cash flow as we continue to invest primarily in the modular development of our third brewery, Veracruz, and modular additions at our existing facilities in Mexico,” the company stated in its earnings call.

Constellation Brands’ decision to further invest in Mexico comes at a time when the Trump administration is encouraging American companies to bring manufacturing back to the United States as part of a broader economic and national security agenda.

The latest developments highlight the growing tension between some corporate stakeholders and the Trump administration’s border and immigration policies, particularly among companies with customer bases and supply chains that are heavily connected to cross-border dynamics.

While Constellation Brands continues to navigate shifting economic and political pressures, the company’s latest comments signal an ongoing debate over the impact of immigration policy on both the labor force and the consumer market in the United States.

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