An immigration raid in a restaurant in San Diego leads to a chaotic scene

Updated on May 31, 2025 at 7:29 p.m.

A chaotic scene of a federal immigration raid in a popular restaurant in San Diego draws new attention to government tactics in the push of making President Trump’s promise to deport millions of people in historic repression.

Shared video on social networks and local news Watch armed and masked agents in full tactical equipment teeming the region near a popular Italian restaurant called Buona forchetta late Friday afternoon.

A crowd of people gathers, filming and howling in protest, the surrounding cars and the van of detention. Then, a momentary explosion of what seems to be a flash-bang grenade sends smoke floating in the street.

A special agent at the Ministry of Internal Security told the member station of NPR KPBS That the officials “executed a mandate of criminal search” during a workplace raid.

Certain witnesses in the reports indicate that the agents were handcuffed first time the entire catering team when they requested identification. Several workers were finally detained, although the accounts of the witnesses differ from the number.

Immigration and the application of customs of the DHS, or ICE, did not immediately respond to the request by email from NPR on Saturday. Neither did the restaurant.

On Friday, an employee shouted by speaking with KPBS when she described how federal agents handcuffed his colleagues in the restaurant, just before he had to open.

The crowd of the inhabitants at a given time prevented a DHS vehicle not marked from leaving an intersection nearby; They shouted blasphemies and called fascist agents. The agents sounded sirens, then deployed what KPBS described as a smoke device to disperse the crowd.

The San Diego Police Department declared at NPR in a statement that had been asked to help on Friday raid on the workplace, but that federal agents had left the region before their arrival, and that the SDPD officers “had not finally provided aid or taken care of”.

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