ICE Agents Raid Kitchen and Arrest Workers after Eating Breakfast at Restaurant
After the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents had some waffles at an Ann Arbor's restaurant in Michigan, they raided the kitchen looking for undocumented immigrants.
Maybe ICE agents didn't enjoy the breakfast at Sava's Restaurant, or maybe they did. Nevertheless, right after their meal on Wednesday, May 24 at 11:30 a.m. agents raided the kitchen for suspected undocumented immigrant that was off that day.
"They came in looking for one person, who was not on duty," said restaurant owner Sava Lelcaj.
Once the agents realized the suspect was not at work they quickly turned their attention to the employees that were there. Agents demanded to see the documentation of the employees that were in the kitchen, claimed Sava's representative Bree Stillwell to Eater.com. They apprehended three people and took them to ICE's Detroit office, said Lelcaj.
Sava's is amazing. This is a first generation Albanian American whose business is booming. She has a hospitality co too, over 250 employees https://t.co/fF6x4ZdPr6
— Laura Ivezaj (@LauraIvezaj1) May 24, 2017
"It's a very sad day here at Sava's," said Lelcaj to news publication MLive. "These things really shake people up. We have a lot of people who have family roots here."
According to some reports, ICE released all three employees.
However, one of the restaurant workers, Carlos Rivera-Ochoa, who had his permanent resident card was still handcuffed and detained in a government vehicle parked outside the restaurant.
"They just slapped some handcuffs on him," said Rivera's wife, Nicki Sanchez. "Not only is that offensive, he was embarrassed in front of the whole restaurant. Why didn't they ask him before they detained him?"
Rivera was able to return to work and Lelcaj and her employees had to continue running the restaurant with a smaller crew.
Lelcaj said that her company, Savco Hospitality, has a process of vetting immigrants to ensure they are legal.
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