Fil-Am mayor, officials slam ICE raid at San Diego restaurants

FILE PHOTO (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

SAN DIEGO – San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria and other elected officials Saturday criticized an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation by federal authorities that took place at a pair of restaurants in the city’s South Park neighborhood — while operators of one of eateries called the raid “nothing short of traumatic.”

According to local media reports, armed federal immigration agents on Friday evening went to the Buona Forchetta and Enoteca Buona Forchetta restaurants on Beech Street and arrested an unknown number of employees.

Managers told ABC 10 that three employees were taken away in handcuffs after ICE agents entered the premises and demanded identification from all staff members.

ABC also said a chaotic scene followed, during which a crowd gathered around ICE vehicles, with a flash bang going off at one point.

A Buona Forchetta employee told CBS 8 that ICE agents “swarmed in around 4:30 p.m. and said they had a warrant and immediately handcuffed each employee in the room.”

“There was no stopping them, there were (around) 30 of them,” Claire Cody told CBS 8. “I mean, we were just all in shock. They just came at a time when it was so unexpected.”

According to KPBS, some witnesses said agents at first handcuffed the entire restaurant crew as they asked for identification, and several workers were ultimately detained, though witness accounts differ on how many.

Yasmeen Pitts O’Keefe, an ICE spokeswoman, on Saturday confirmed to City News Service the work site operations and added, “As this is an ongoing investigation, we have no further releasable information at  this time.”

One social media account on the Bluesky platform showed footage of masked agents walking near the restaurants as onlookers yelled at them. At one point, people are heard shouting, “Shame, shame.”

Meanwhile, CBS 8 reported that the San Diego Police Department confirmed its officers were called in at 6:07 p.m. Friday “by an urgent request for assistance from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to assist with the gathered crowds.”

“The nature of their involvement at the time of the request was unknown to us,” the SDPD said in a statement. “SDPD was not involved in the operation beforehand, nor were we involved in any immigration enforcement.

Federal agents had left the area prior to our arrival, and our officers did not ultimately provide any assistance or take enforcement action.”

An unidentified Buona Forchetta employee Saturday told City News Service that the raid “was very, very upsetting,” but that the restaurant was open for business, and people were being supportive. He declined to comment further.

In an Instagram post Saturday, Buona Forchetta said it was working with attorneys “to locate and support our detained employees and their families.”

The raid “was nothing short of traumatic,” Buona Forchetta posted.

“We are devastated and heartbroken. Buona Forchetta has always been, at its core, a family. We stand together, now and always. We are still processing the deep pain and confusion caused by this situation.”

Mayor Todd Gloria, officials raise concerns

Also on Saturday, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria issued a statement saying that, “Like many San Diegans, I was deeply upset by Friday night’s immigration enforcement operation at Buona Forchetta and Enoteca Buona Forchetta in South Park.”

Gloria was one of numerous area officials to comment on Friday’s events.

“Federal actions like these are billed as a public safety measure, but it had the complete opposite effect,” The Fil-Am mayor said. “What we saw undermines trust and creates fear in our community. I raised these concerns and my strong objections directly with Homeland Security Investigations leadership this morning. I will continue to advocate for the respect, dignity, rights, and security of everyone in our city.”

San Diego City Councilman Steven Whitburn, whose district includes South Park, posted on X that he was also “deeply troubled” by what took place.

“People have the right to due process,” Whitburn posted. “Our neighbors who are immigrants are vital to the fabric of our city, and they deserve to live without fear or intimidation. San Diego must remain a city where fairness, humanity, and the rule of law prevail.”

Rep. Scott Peters, a San Diego Democrat who represents the 50th District, said his office “will be investigating the incident to ensure law enforcement is using its resources on public safety threats and meeting the highest standards.”

In a statement, Peters said, “How does scaring restaurant patrons and arresting people busing tables and washing dishes make us safer? It doesn’t. It wastes our limited law enforcement resources. It proves that the promise to deport only dangerous criminals was a fraud. And it abuses hardworking people and the neighbors they work among — there’s your waste, fraud and abuse.”

County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer said in a statement that was happened in South Park “was a disturbing escalation of the same tactics we saw in our courthouses earlier this week: intimidation over public safety, fear over fairness.”

According to a recent news report, ICE agents on May 22 and 23 arrested migrants who showed up for civil hearings at the San Diego Immigration Court, located downtown.

“Militarized immigration raids in our neighborhoods erode trust, destabilize families, and undermine the constitutional right to due process,” said Lawson-Remer, the acting Board of Supervisors chair.

“What we’re seeing now isn’t new, but it is more dangerous,” she added. “Innocence doesn’t protect you when due process is stripped away. And when that happens, none of us are safe.”

Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre — a candidate for the vacant District 1 supervisors seat in the July 1 runoff — said in a statement that the arrests were an “over-the-top, militarized show of force that doesn’t belong in a residential neighborhood.”

“Flash bangs and assault rifles aimed at restaurant workers and community members is not enforcement — it’s intimidation,” said Aguirre.

“I’m a mayor who works closely with police and I know we can have common-sense enforcement without losing our minds or our morals. I oppose in the strongest terms possible ICE raids on schools, churches and restaurants, and believe we should never be separating children from their families,” she added.

The campaign for Aguirre’s opponent in the July 1 runoff — Chula Vista Mayor John McCann — said in a statement to CNS that “The mayor has been on Navy duty and not able to comment.” (With CNS report)