By Michael Smolens / San Diego Union-Tribune / June 6, 2025
Not long after President Donald Trump was sworn in to his second term, there was plenty of advice from law firms and analysts on how businesses should prepare for increased immigration raids.
Among the highlights: recheck employee documents, advise workers of their rights and tell them who to notify should immigration enforcement officials show up.
One thing that didn’t appear on many lists: Get ready for a SWAT-like operation.
That’s what the raid at South Park’s Buona Forchetta restaurant seemed like at times last Friday, judging from interviews with witnesses, employees and viral videos. Amid the confusion, angst and anger that still lingers a week later, one important aspect of this incident hasn’t gotten much attention.
This was really bad government work.
It’s hard to do, but put aside, even if just for a moment, the immorality of a full-on raid by 20 or so officers, some in military tactical gear, that resulted in the shackling of restaurant workers — targeted or not.
The result so far has been the arrest of four people who Homeland Security Investigations officials said were in the country illegally, though other than their immigration status there was no indication that they had criminal records.
But then, the notion advanced by the Trump administration that it would be focused on hardened criminals is a ruse, as relatively unthreatening undocumented immigrants — some with legal standing to be in the country — have been targeted from early on.
In short, the operation was tremendously inefficient and a waste of valuable resources that could have been directed toward catching dangerous criminals. Further, the operation nearly triggered a violent confrontation in a quiet neighborhood.
It didn’t have to be this way. Incredibly, this case began with a tip nearly five years ago about undocumented workers and another one in January, according to the search warrant, as reported by The San Diego Union-Tribune. The original tip reportedly included accusations of labor law violations by the restaurant, but so far only workers apparently have been detained.
On one level, the investigation seemed to follow reasonable procedure early on, whether or not one agrees with the larger immigration enforcement policy. Federal agents requested employee immigration documents, which were turned over by an attorney representing the restaurant.
Officials concluded documents for some 19 workers were fake or falsified and that some of those people had been previously removed from the country. That raises questions about how those people were removed initially, whether that was via high-profile raids and, if not, why a similar approach wasn’t used this time.
Surveillance was then conducted on the restaurant, the raid was launched and, no doubt from the immigration enforcement view, came up short.
But the over-the-top operation in South Park generated a nationwide debate, not all of it rational, and a unified response of condemnation from San Diego Democratic leaders, including four members of the local congressional delegation.
Republican Rep. Darrell Issa, who has supported Trump’s immigration crackdown, does not appear to have mentioned the raid publicly as of Thursday afternoon.
One of the more interesting exchanges occurred on social media between San Diego City Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera and Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff for policy and a homeland security adviser.
“This isn’t a war zone — it’s a neighborhood in our city,” said the message posted by Elo-Rivera with a photo. “In San Diego, they’ve targeted parents dropping off their kids at school, people following the law inside courthouses, and workers just doing their jobs at local restaurants.
“These are federal agents carrying out raids under the false pretense of ‘safety.’ This isn’t safety. It’s state-sponsored terrorism.
“And anyone who cares about freedom — and true safety — should be fighting back.”
Miller reposted Elo-Rivera’s take and suggested the federal officers were the potential victims: “We are living in the age of leftwing domestic terrorism. They are openly encouraging violence against law enforcement to aid and abet the invasion of America.”
Hours later post, Republican Assemblymember Carl DeMaio parroted Miller, accusing Elo-Rivera of “inciting violence against law enforcement” and calling for his resignation.
Under the Miller narrative, when Democrats use the word “fight,” it’s a call for violence. But when Trump encouraged the Jan. 6, 2021, rioters at the U.S. Capitol to “fight like hell” — and they did, injuring as many as 174 law enforcement officers — it’s not.
Some of the local Democrats maintained the South Park operation was an attempt to intimidate the public. It may have worked on employees, but not the community that supports them.
Protesters quickly gathered outside Buona Forchetta and its nearby sister restaurant, Enoteca Buona Forchetta. They chanted, yelled and recorded on their cellphones.
According to a Homeland Security spokesperson, the protesters also “pounded on car windows, and even blocked roadways to prevent ICE from leaving.” “Flash-bang” devices and other measures were deployed to disperse the crowd.
It was probably a coincidence, but the South Park raid came at a time when things have not been going well for Trump’s efforts to ramp up immigration enforcement and deportations.
The administration released a list of immigrant “sanctuary” jurisdictions last week that appeared to be riddled with inaccuracies, including naming some cities that actually had voted to support Trump’s policies. The list was removed from the Department of Homeland Security website, at least temporarily.
Further, Miller and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem recently demanded that immigration agents increase immigration arrests to 3,000 people a day, more than twice the previous quota, according to NBC and other news organizations.
“Stephen Miller wants everybody arrested. ‘Why aren’t you at Home Depot? Why aren’t you at 7-Eleven?’” an official at the meeting recounted for the Washington Examiner.
So now it’s a numbers game that goes beyond the “millions and millions of criminal aliens” Trump promised to deport during his campaign. Increasingly, operations such as those in South Park and across the country have been met with resistance.
We may soon find out if “flash-bang,” or something worse, becomes the new normal.
