Emiliano’s raises funds to support staff detained by ICE
The day after 16 Emiliano’s Mexican Restaurant and Bar workers were detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the restaurant has already raised over $80,000 on GoFundMe on behalf of its employees and their families.
“We are overwhelmed with a feeling of love and support,” the restaurant said in a Facebook post on Friday, Aug. 8. “There are no words to describe how thankful we are for you. The unshakable force of good we are experiencing in this moment will cast out the inhumane force we experienced yesterday.”
Two of the restaurant’s locations, one in Cranberry Township and one in Richland Township, Allegheny County, were raided by immigration officials Thursday morning. By 1 p.m., the Cranberry Township location had closed its doors.
ICE said in a Thursday news release that the immigration raid included agents from various agencies carrying out federal court-authorized search warrants.
“During the execution of the search warrants, 16 individuals were encountered and found to be illegally present in the United States. These 16 individuals were taken into ICE custody and placed into immigration proceedings. As this is an ongoing investigation, no further details are available at this time,” an ICE spokesperson said in the release.
The restaurant posted a video to its Facebook page Thursday showing damage to the restaurant’s Richland Township location in the back-of-house areas. It also said its kitchens were flipped, its walk-in cooler and freezer emptied, its food trashed and its doors broken.
The GoFundMe is currently set to a $100,000 goal, and had reached over $80,000 by Friday evening. In the description, the business explains its plans for the funds.
“We are raising $100,000 to cover the $3,000 bond hearing per person (roughly), and their salaries for this month which equates to $50,000 for all 16 of our employees that were detained,” the description said.
The restaurant said it will reopen, rebuild and keep feeding its patrons in the future.
“This will make us stronger, closer, and love deeper than we ever have before,” the post said. “It will drive us to do more good and help more people. Because that is what family is all about. And around here, everyone’s familia.”
