It was illegal invaders saturating an area near where I grew up that did it for the malls, and most other retailers. A Mexican flag now flies on an office tower at the mall of my childhood (there is a Mexican consulate there.)
Can you give us a date range of when this happened?
I can from my experience (living in Montgomery, AL at the time). The first mall was overrun in late 1999. The public called for more of a police presence, but "community leaders" called that racist. Soon, that mall was closed, and the trouble makers moved east to the next indoor mall. That mali fell within a few years...maybe 2004-05.