Federal agents conducted immigration raids at two Mexican restaurants in the Kansas City metro area on Wednesday, detaining up to 12 workers.
The coordinated raids by Homeland Security Investigations agents took place at both locations of El Toro Loco Mexican Bar and Grill at 11 a.m., according to the local group Advocates for Immigration Rights and Reconciliation.
The advocacy group said in a press release that seven workers were detained at 1706 Village West Parkway in Kansas City, Kansas, and four to five workers were taken into custody at the 10088 Woodland Road location in Lenexa.
Federal agents placed handwritten “closed” signs on the doors of both restaurants before the raids took place, the group said in a statement, which created “an atmosphere of intimidation for workers inside.”
“These raids come as part of a broader pattern of targeting immigrant workers under the guise of enforcement, further traumatizing communities already vulnerable to exploitation,” AIRR organizers wrote.
AIRR reports that federal agents left the Lenexa restaurant unlocked and open after the raid, and even left burners on at some cooking stations.
Jackson County Legislator Manny Abarca posted on social media that ICE and the Department of Homeland Security “seems to be intentionally targeting only Mexican restaurants in an industry that preys on undocumented or misdocumented workers.” Abarca said he wants to see the restaurant owners held responsible.
The Kansas City Star reported that the restaurants were vacant as of midday Wednesday.
AIRR said in their press release that HSI agents cited a "criminal search warrant" when questioned about the raid, and mentioned that the investigation was related to allegations of labor trafficking and exploitation. The release also said agents did not attempt to identify or assist potential victims.
According to the Johnson County Post, images and video shared by AIRR showed men in tactical vests bearing the letters HSI at both restaurants. In one picture, four people who appear to be restaurant workers are sitting on the ground outside the back door of the El Toro Loco in Lenexa, their hands cuffed behind their backs and two agents with HSI vests standing over them.
In another video, HSI agents can be seen bringing seven people out of the El Toro Loco in Kansas City, Kansas, all in handcuffs, and leading them to an unmarked van.
HSI, which falls under the U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement agency, did not respond to a request for comment. A call to the El Toro Loco in Kansas City yielded a busy tone, and there was no answer at the Lenexa location.
Dozens gathered to protest raid
On Wednesday afternoon, dozens of people gathered outside the El Toro Loco location in Lenexa, which is in the middle of a strip mall just off Woodland Road and Kansas Highway 10.
Julie Lopez, who owns a salon two doors down from the restaurant, joined the crowd. She said federal agents arrived around 11 a.m., creating a stir among her employees.
She said she’d never seen anything suspicious happening at El Toro Loco and that the people who worked there were “super kind." Lopez said the restaurant was beloved by the community and other businesses in the strip mall.
“These people came to work early to get their day going. They were not causing any trouble. They were not doing anything unseemly,” she said. “This is ridiculous, but like, it’s finally in our backyards now, which we should have assumed was going to happen. These are human beings that were trying to go to work and make a living.”
Speakers at the gathering Wednesday, including Democratic state Rep. Susan Ruiz of Shawnee, said the raids could violate constitutional guarantees of due process.
“They’ve [ICE] been given a quota: 3,000 immigrants a day,” Ruiz said, a reference to the Trump administration’s publicly stated goal of the number of daily arrests being sought. “So what’s it going to take to meet that quota? Go where the Latinos are. Come into a restaurant and just kidnap people.”
Arlín Pacheco said she came to the gathering as soon as she got off work. She said she works in the food and hospitality industry around the Kansas City area, hosting “taco and margarita” tours.
She has eaten at El Toro Loco in Lenexa numerous times.
“”I’ve never had a bad experience here. The Hispanic community loves to serve. We are eager to work and we’re eager to be a part of that, not because we work for cheap or we work for any other reason except that hard work keeps you alive,” she said. “And that’s why our communities are strong. But this is terrorizing.”
Kyle Palmer of the Johnson County Post contributed reporting.
