Immigration officers swarmed a restaurant late Friday afternoon in South Park, escorting two employees out in a raid that left the staff, the manager said, deeply shaken.
Usually Buona Forchetta has customers waiting out front, lined up to enter the popular Beech Street restaurant.
Instead, after an hour-and-15 minute operation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the jittery crowd wasn’t waiting for Italian food.
On the street, on the sidewalks, large and small groups talked about what had just happened. It was a crowd of curious, mad, disappointed people joined by television crews with cameras.
Both the main restaurant and their smaller place next door were raided and witnesses said when the contingent of officers attempted to remove two employees, they encountered a hostile response.
How hostile? ICE officers tossed two flash bangs to back the crowd off. Black remnants of the bangs remained visible on the pavement outside the restaurant.
ICE confirmed to KGTV 10News that there had been an “enforcement operation” at the restaurant as part of an “ongoing investigation.”
The restaurant’s manager, Renato Ametrano, described what happened, saying the ICE officers showed “up with no explanation.” He said there were about 20-25 officers who “surrounded the building and then came inside” pushing him against the wall and handcuffing him.
They frightened the workers, many of them students, Ametrano said, describing ICE personnel as “very aggressive” while handcuffing other members of the staff.
The remnants of a flash bang on the street outside Buona Forchetta. (Photo by JW August)He said the officers were looking at a computer and at employees. Apparently they did not see whatever or whomever they were seeking.
Instead, they took two employees, said Ametrano, because “they didn’t have a physical ID.”
For the young people who work at Buona Forchetta, it was a “very bad experience,” he said, adding that “five or six people, they don’t want to work because they are still shaking.”
A crowd remained outside Buona Forchetta after the ICE raid. (Photo by JW August)The trauma led Ametrano to shut the restaurant down for the night. The street would remain filled with locals and disappointed diners.
Ametrano said only ICE officers were involved, not San Diego police.
Closing a busy and popular restaurant on a Friday night will lead to considerable monetary losses, but Ametrano promised, “I will open tomorrow.”
Cards outlining constitutional rights on display inside Buona Forchetta.(Photo by JW August) Read More Details
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