A chaotic scene from a federal immigration raid on a popular San Diego restaurant is drawing new attention to government tactics in the push to fulfill President Trump’s promise to deport millions in a historic crackdown.
Video shared on social media and local news shows armed and masked agents in full tactical gear swarming the area near a popular Italian restaurant called Buona Forchetta late Friday afternoon.
A crowd of people gathers, filming and yelling in protest, surrounding cars and detention vans. Then, a momentary explosion of what appears to be a flash-bang grenade sends smoke floating across the street.
A special agent with the Department of Homeland Security told NPR member station KPBS that officials were “executing a criminal search warrant” during a workplace raid.
Some witnesses in news reports say agents at first handcuffed the entire restaurant crew as they asked for identification. Several workers were ultimately detained, although witness accounts differ on how many.
One employee cried while speaking with the media on Friday as she described how federal agents handcuffed her coworkers in the restaurant, just before it was scheduled to open.
The crowd of locals at one point blocked an unmarked DHS vehicle from leaving a nearby intersection; they shouted profanities and called agents fascists. Agents sounded sirens, then deployed what KPBS described as a smoke device to disperse the crowd.
The San Diego Police Department told NPR in a statement that it was asked to assist at the scene of Friday’s workplace raid, but that federal agents had left the area prior to their arrival, and that SDPD officers “did not ultimately provide any assistance or take enforcement action.”
