About 2,300 people combined to donate more than $100,000 to help 16 people who were taken into custody after federal agents raided two of Emiliano’s four Mexican restaurants in the Pittsburgh area.
“We stand by our team. We are working with legal experts and community partners to support the people impacted. And we will not stay silent while fear and intimidation tear through our community,” a statement on the GoFundMe page attributed to the Emiliano’s family stated.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents led the raids Thursday on Emiliano’s locations at shopping plazas in Cranberry and Richland. They were joined by FBI agents, U.S. Marshals, IRS agents and others in serving search warrants after receiving a report that Emiliano’s was employing those in the U.S. in violation of immigration law.
Further details about the report that spurred the raid and those taken into custody weren’t released.
It was a work site enforcement action that will take a while to investigate, said Jason Koontz, a spokesman for HSI (Homeland Security Investigations) and ERO (Enforcement and Removal Operations of ICE).
Emiliano’s is among the restaurants that Benny Ulloa has started and owned over the last two decades in the restaurant and real estate business. Ulloa is senior partner and chief operating officer of Sofranko Advisory Group, based in Pine’s section of Wexford.
A person who answered the phone at Sofranko said the firm would not be commenting on the raids.
Emiliano’s locations that were raided remained closed Friday.
The manager of the Bethel Park location declined to comment, but the restaurant was open Friday. The South Side location also was open, and a person who answered the phone said those affiliated with the business were shaken by the raids but declined further comment.
“The unshakeable force of good we are experiencing in this moment will cast out the inhumane force we experienced yesterday,” Emiliano’s posted on its Facebook and Instagram pages. “We are actively working to bring justice to this situation, and will openly communicate with everyone about what’s happening. Our community deserves that. Families who are scared deserve that. Friends who have been torn apart deserve that. We all deserve that.”
The Ulloas were in Florida moving their son Emiliano, the namesake of the restaurants, into his college dorm, they said in a Facebook post Thursday. They also shared video of the raid on Facebook.
“When I walked into the restaurant, what I saw broke me. Doors torn open. Our kitchen trashed. The people who have stood beside us for years — scared, shaken, gone,” the post stated. “At Emiliano’s, we’re built on hard work. On family — not just the ones we’re born into, but the ones we work beside every day. We’ve always been proud to stand with our local first responders and law enforcement. Many of them are regulars here, and we’ve served them with love for years. We’ll always back them.”
The Richland location is one of Carson Kalpakis’ favorite restaurants, he said Friday as he was working out at a neighboring gym.
“I’d say I went there every couple months,” he said.
While he said it was sad to see the raid happen, federal agents need to enforce the law, said Kalpakis, 21, of Richland.
“You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do,” he said.
Two people who were lobbying customers of the nearby Shop’n Save to consider their electric savings program said they were disturbed by the raid.
“It’s absolutely absurd,” said Alexis Bass of New Kensington. “These people are just trying to make a living.”
Her colleague, Kamryn Frinsco of the Creighton section of East Deer, agreed.
“I’ve eaten there a lot. It’s sad,” Frinsco said.
