11 hours ago
ICE agents arrest 14 people during immigration raid at Pittsburgh-area restaurant
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested 14 people during an operation at a Mexican restaurant in Allegheny County on Wednesday, ICE officials said.
A spokesperson for ICE told KDKA that 14 undocumented migrants were arrested for "immigration violations" during the operation at Tepache Mexican Kitchen and Bar in Marshall Township.
Pictures obtained by KDKA show men and women with shackled hands and feet being walked out of the restaurant and placed into police vehicles.
Jamie Martinez and other immigration advocates came to show support for those arrested on Wednesday. Martinez is the community defense organizer for Casa San José, a non-profit community resource center that advocates for Latinos. It provides social services, youth programming, health services and more to the Latino community in the Pittsburgh area.
"As they were walked out, they would wave at us and tell us thank you for being there with tears streaming down their face in fear," Martinez said.
"If it's true that these people today are undocumented ... why does Casa San José feel they should be allowed to stay without documentation?" KDKA's Jennifer Borrasso asked Martinez.
"Every human being should be afforded dignity," he said. "Every human being has inherent dignity tied to them. What we are seeing right now, above all else, is violations of that dignity."
The ICE spokesperson said officers "conducted an [Homeland Security Investigation]-led worksite enforcement investigation where they executed a federal search warrant" at the restaurant. The spokesperson did not say what the agents were specifically searching for.
The 14 people are now in ICE custody, the spokesperson said, but they did not say where the 14 people were taken.
The FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration assisted on Wednesday, the ICE spokesperson said.
