Local lawmakers demand answers regarding last week’s ICE restaurant raid

A crowd remained outside Buona Forchetta after the ICE raid Photo by JW August A group of local lawmakers Friday sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Protection Secretary Kristi Noem demanding answers over the armed U S Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid on a South Park restaurant one week ago Reps Scott Peters Juan Vargas Sara Jacobs all D-San Diego and Rep Mike Levin D-Dana Point penning the letter with Sen Adam Schiff D- D-California also expressed concerns over ICE targeting immigrants showing up for scheduled court hearings In President Trump s now confines czar Tom Homan commented immigration enforcement would focus on immigrants who are population safety threats and the national protection threats first the lawmakers wrote According to the facts outlined in the authorities s warrant the workers at Buona Forchetta do not appear to meet this standard Instead various immigrants like those targeted in the operation work challenging jobs and fill labor gaps in sectors like agriculture and construction Immigrants are critical to the local and national economic system with those in the San Diego metro area contributing billion in taxes annually According to a warrant filed by Homeland Precaution Investigations Special Agent Michael Hensley and unsealed at San Diego federal court Monday a five-year-old tip alleged that South Park restaurants Buona Forchetta and Enoteca Buona Forchetta employed more than undocumented workers The tip was then updated in January alleging of the company s employees were undocumented or had forged visas and owner Matteo Cattaneo had exploited those workers into hour shifts with no breaks Friday s raid involved at least masked agents in military-style gear taking a group of workers into custody while also confronting and handcuffing others and at one point detonating flash-bang grenades in the vicinity The role of law enforcement is to keep our group safe the lawmakers write The episode at Buona Forchetta last week did not make us safer Witness accounts and video recordings show over ICE and Homeland Shield Investigations agents present on the scene countless armed with assault weapons and fitted in military tactical gear Agents were then witnessed aggressively entering the restaurant to handcuff all employees including those who were not enforcement targets Agents also used three noise flash diversionary devices which produce loud bangs and smoke to disperse civilians at the scene These tactics created chaos and fear all to arrest four immigrants reportedly working hard as dishwashers and servers The Administration s use of these tactics also suggests the intent of the raid was not to uphold the law in a responsible manner but rather to intimidate This is unacceptable The use of such tactics to execute warrants for non-violent crimes not only harms inhabitants trust in HLS and ICE it also raises legitimate questions about the Department of Homeland Assurance s stewardship of taxpayer dollars The detained individuals included three Mexican nationals and another from Colombia according to Rep Vargas Buona Forchetta has reopened after shuttering for several days following the raid We feel incredibly grateful to open our doors again and return to what we love most of bringing our resilient public together through food an Instagram post from the restaurant read on Wednesday As our crew finds its footing again we truly appreciate your continued grace and backing Thank you for standing with us A GoFundMe campaign for the detained employees started Sunday had already raised more than A great number of of the politicians who signed the letter to Noem denounced the federal raid the leaders revealed left the area shaken and traumatized earlier this week Vargas disclosed Monday s news conference was being held outside San Diego s federal courthouses specifically because a local federal judge U S Magistrate Judge Karen Crawford signed off on the warrant that he announced authorized agents to detain everyone working inside the restaurants whether or not they were undocumented Vargas mentioned part of the lawmakers demands were to meet with the chief judge for the Southern District of California to inquire how and why warrants of this sort were being approved Peters described the matter as our authorities terrorizing our own communities and revealed the operation was conducted as though its targets were gang members or drug traffickers We were explained that this whole move on immigration and deportation was about violent criminals Peters revealed Well we know that s not true Vargas mentioned the ICE agents were armed to the teeth as if they were entering a war zone terrorized the patrons and workers and he charged that the intent of the operation was to intimidate and to bring terror and fear into everybody s hearts especially immigrants Levin cited reports stating that White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller is calling for people to be arrested daily by immigration law enforcement leaders Setting an arbitrary quota is what created a mess like what we saw on Friday and it will continue unless we all speak out against it he revealed ICE has not commented beyond confirming the operations occurred at the restaurants Yasmeen Pitts O Keefe an ICE spokeswoman explained City News System As this is an ongoing scrutiny we have no further releasable information at this time At Monday s San Diego City Council meeting Councilman Sean Elo-Rivera stood by statements he made over the weekend that drew a sharp rebuke from the White House Describing the Friday matter as terroristic and fascist Elo-Rivera urged San Diegans to stand up and push back against ICE raids in the locality After Elo-Rivera s initial declaration which included an image of the masked armed agents with the word terrorists scrawled over them White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller announced We are living in the age of leftwing domestic terrorism They are openly encouraging violence against law enforcement to aid and abet the invasion of America San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond supported the action and described Elo-Rivera s comments as ridiculous San Diego politicians are out there defending illegal immigrant criminals over the safety of American families and even calling ICE agents terrorists Desmond wrote on X That s one of the the bulk ridiculous things I ve ever seen The vast majority of Americans believe these criminals should be deported It s common sense It s about protecting our communities and keeping our country safe Administration executives have conducted stepped-up enforcement of illegal immigration since President Donald Trump took office in January and information show that illegal dividing line crossings have reached historically low levels City News Institution