ICE Officers Dined At Cafe, Then Arrested 3 Of Its Cooks, Owner Says

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Federal immigration officers who took part in a “raid” at a Michigan restaurant Wednesday first sat and ate breakfast, according to the eatery’s owner.

Six U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents came to the Ann Arbor restaurant Sava’s on Wednesday morning, owner Sava Lelcaj said. Two officers were stationed at the front door, two stood at the back exit and two entered the restaurant and had breakfast at the bar with a view of the kitchen, other staff members told Lelcaj, who wasn’t present at the time.

The officers who came inside did not initially identify themselves as ICE agents. They dined on waffles with bacon and egg whites with toast before inquiring about a kitchen worker who was not there, Lelcaj told HuffPost.

About the same time, line cook Carlos Rivera-Ochoa took out the trash in the back when officers slapped handcuffs on him, according to Lelcaj. Rivera-Ochoa told MLive he carries his permanent residency card with him, and he was released shortly after being taken into a vehicle and fingerprinted.

But when three other cooks in the kitchen saw officers confront Rivera-Ochoa, they “panicked,” Lelcaj said, and ran out the front door and were then arrested.

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