Homeland Security claims ICE raided Kansas restaurants to ‘rescue victims of human trafficking'
The group claimed that at least 12 employees of the restaurant were detained around 11 a.m., which is when both locations open for business.
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'Today I saw something I never expected to witness in my own community,' said Aude Negrete, a Johnson County mother concerned by the operations.
'Federal agents storm into a local business, terrorizing people who are simply trying to build a better life.'
FOX4 reached out to the Department of Homeland Security to confirm their involvement in the operations. On Friday, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin with Homeland Security sent us the following statement:
'ICE was carrying out a criminal federal search warrant to rescue victims of human trafficking. Extremists and activists, one with their child in tow, tried to interfere with law enforcement by storming the restaurant, calling law enforcement Nazis, and attempting to keep officers from leaving the scene. Unfortunately, these types of smears and obstruction to law enforcement operations are becoming more and more common. Our brave ICE law enforcement are facing an 830% increase in assaults against them as they carry out operations.'
AIRR KC says that agents cited a criminal search warrant related to an investigation of labor trafficking and exploitation as the reason for their operations. Negrete was at one of the locations after the agents left.
'The scene they left behind told us a story. We saw the kitchen still open, a flame burning on the stove like someone had been taken in the middle of preparing a meal,' she said.
Other faith leaders and community advocates spoke against the raids at a conference in front of El Toro Loco's Lenexa location on Wednesday afternoon.
'What happened here today is a crime against our community,' said Rose Schwab, a minister at Shawnee Mission Unitarian Universalist Church.
'This is not a Kansas value and this is not the values of a free state and this is not the American dream that my family has benefited from and that I believe in.'
Others said the raids are a result of political change. Rabbi Moti Rieber is the executive director of Kansas Interfaith Action, and says the raids happen without rhyme or reason.
'Because anyone who is perceived as Latino or African, wherever they are at a Home Depot, at a court hearing, out gardening, picking up their kids or at a restaurant in suburban Johnson County can be set upon by armed thugs, armed gunmen in masks, dragged into a van and disappeared. My friends, fascism in the form of uncontrolled executive power, lawlessness, political persecutions and racist law enforcement is not coming. It is here.'
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It's leaving mothers like Negrete worried about their children's safety.
'This is not what public safety looks like. As a mother, I want my children to grow up in a community where they feel secure, supported and respected. Real safety doesn't come from criminalizing our immigrant neighbors,' she said.
AIRR KC and the other advocates encouraged those who are concerned about immigration operations to report and record their experiences with federal agents.
'We must hold ICE, the Department of Homeland Security accountable for kidnapping our families,' Karla Juarez, the executive director of AIRR KC, said.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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