The Sip: Immigration and Customers Officers shut down a local restaurant by taking three ‘illegal’ employees in to custody Thursday. By Friday the restaurant re-opened when all three were released – ICE has not commented but it is apparent the arrests were unwarranted.
The Cup: El Maguey, a favorite local chain of Mexican restaurants was forced to close it’s O’Fallon, Missouri restaurant last Thursday. Officers of the Immigration Customs Enforcement service (ICE) took three employees into custody in what is presumed to be one one of the first raids on a local business under a new federal initiative to crack down on illegal immigration. The three employees were transported to St. Louis where they underwent some level of investigation and were subsequently released. The restaurant re-opened Friday as normal. It would appear to have been a swing and a miss by ICE which has cost this local business money and reputation. The incident has had a chilling effect on the Hispanic community. Even legal citizens of the United States close to the incident didn’t want to disclose their names in fear of reprisal by these new zealous efforts.
Papers please !