By Charlie Pogacar
On the evening of Friday, May 30, agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raided a Buona Forchetta location in the South Park neighborhood of San Diego. Federal agents detained four employees, according to a report by CBS 8 News.
The raid was one of many conducted by ICE agents reportedly targeting undocumented workers across the U.S. in Spring 2025. Days after the incident at Buona Forchetta—a seven-location Italian restaurant—protests erupted in cities across the country. The widespread demonstrations led to a June 7th statement from President Trump announcing the deployment of the National Guard to Los Angeles.
The shockwaves from the Buona Forchetta raid—and others of its kind—have been felt acutely within the hospitality industry, including the pizza community in Southern California. The raids targeted farms, restaurants and hotels. On June 13, the Trump administration put restrictions in place that paused raids on workplaces in those industries, but days later the administration announced it would roll back those limits, as Reuters reported on June 17.
Reeling with a case of whiplash, restaurant operators are now asking: What does this mean for my staff? My business? And how do we prepare for what comes next?
A Warrant, A Raid, and Lingering Questions
According to search warrants obtained by CBS 8, the raid at Buona Forchetta stemmed from an initial tip to Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in 2020, alleging the restaurant employed undocumented laborers and mistreated staff. A second tip in early 2025 apparently reiterated the undocumented employment claim but did not mention abuse. Federal investigators allege that 19 employees—nearly half the restaurant’s workforce—submitted fraudulent green cards.
In a press conference following the incident, ICE acting director Todd Lyons defended the agency’s tactics and cited threats to agent safety and growing online hostility. As for Buona Forchetta, the restaurant closed for two days but reopened for service on June 4.
Juan Robles, executive chef at Triple Beam Pizza—a small four-location chain in Los Angeles—described how the collective raids have affected restaurants, pointing toward the Buona Forchetta incident as a turning point. He said that even Latino U.S. citizens like himself don’t feel safe. “Everyone’s scared,” Robles told PMQ Pizza. “And, honestly, I don’t blame them. Even if your papers are in order, even if your shop is squeaky clean, the fear sticks around.”
Robles emphasized the difficulty of speaking publicly about immigration issues without alienating customers, staff or neighbors. He also emphasized that his views on ICE raids might not necessarily reflect the views of Triple Beam Pizza’s ownership.
“I’ve seen the backlash other people have gotten,” Robles said. “We’re in a tough position. But just because we’re quiet doesn’t mean we’re okay with it.”
PMQ Pizza reached out to Buona Forchetta for this article, but the restaurant’s ownership declined to speak on the record.
Change in Tone
President Trump heavily campaigned on immigration reform. In 2024, he told TIME magazine that he intended to deport 15 million people. He was elected to a second term in November 2024.
The Trump administration is following through on its campaign promise, Trump has said, by conducting ICE raids and deporting undocumented immigrants—with an emphasis on apprehending and deporting those with a criminal history. But there are signs that even some in Trump’s own camp have mixed feelings about the way ICE raids are being conducted.
The Wall Street Journal pointed to the mixed messages the administration was sending—as far as whether or not to target workplaces—as proof of the backlash the White House is facing from its own supporters.
“The back-and-forth was a sign of the confusion and conflict within the administration, which faces pressure from businesses and some Republicans to dial back enforcement even as it is under pressure from the MAGA base to pick up the pace,” the Journal reported in June. “Republican members of Congress from California, Texas and Florida have publicly urged the White House to give priority to deportations of criminals rather than migrants who have resided in the U.S. for long periods and have otherwise obeyed the law.”
Robles, and many others in the L.A. community, feel the raids are intimidation tactics meant to send a message to the country’s Latino population rather than sincere attempts at arresting criminals. To underscore that, he pointed to alleged incidents he’s heard of where Latino U.S. citizens have been arrested and taken to an ICE facility prior to being released. (Such incidents have been documented by media organizations like The Guardian.)
“You’re talking about a city and a community where people that were brought here as toddlers are now adults,” Robles said. “They’ve grown up looking for ways to get their citizenship. It’s not a simple and quick process. And now they pay taxes here. They raise kids here. They’re part of our industry and our lives. If we’re saying we only want to deport criminals, then why are people who’ve been here peacefully for decades the ones being taken? That’s not a policy. That’s a contradiction.”
The Backbone of the Industry
It’s no secret that immigrants—documented or not—have long been vital to the restaurant industry. As Jimmy Frischling of Hospitality Headline recently noted, an estimated 1 million undocumented immigrants work in restaurants across the U.S., accounting for roughly 10% of the industry’s workforce.
The Los Angeles Times reported on June 30 that California’s restaurant industry is “staffed overwhelmingly” by Latinos and immigrants. That article cites figures from the Public Policy Institute of California, stating that 79% of restaurant workers are Latinos and 66% are immigrants.
Independent restaurants—which make up about 70% of the industry nationwide—may be especially reliant on this labor pool, particularly for essential back-of-house roles like dishwashing, prep and line cooking. These positions, operators say, are increasingly difficult to fill, even in urban markets, and losing access to that segment of the workforce could push already strained operations past the breaking point.
This reliance isn’t limited to restaurants. Across the foodservice ecosystem—a cycle “from farm to fork,” as Frischling puts it— immigrant and undocumented labor plays a critical role. According to Frischling, about half of all field and crop workers in the U.S. are undocumented, and in meatpacking plants in some regions of the country the foreign-born workforce is estimated to exceed 50%. In total, over 1 million undocumented immigrants are believed to be working in agriculture alone, Frischling wrote. Any policy shift that disrupts this already fragile supply chain, many fear, could ultimately show up on menus and grocery bills alike.
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In Southern California, the connection to the Latino community is even more personal, said David Turkell, a political strategist and founding member of the LA Pizza Alliance. “Latino workers aren’t just part of the labor force—they’re the backbone of our kitchens, our prep lines, our supply chains, our neighborhoods,” Turkell said. “This isn’t about politics. It’s just the truth. Without them, the system doesn’t run.”
As enforcement actions and deportations rise, many in the industry worry not only about staffing—but about a foundational shift in the people and culture that have long defined California’s pizza scene.
“I understand the immigration part of it [is complicated],” Robles said. “But everything that we have in this country comes from immigration at one point. Let’s say all the immigrants are gone. What happens to food picking? What happens to everything? Are people going to want to do those jobs?”
Matthew Lyons, owner and operator of Tribute Pizza in San Diego, also fears that ICE raids and the resulting unrest will have a crippling impact on the industry. And it’s an industry, he says, that can’t afford to lose more workers.
“Turnover at your competitors means fewer applicants,” Lyons said via email with PMQ Pizza. “That means more stress on the people you already have. It’s harder to staff your team, harder to fill out your schedule, harder to find people who show up on time and know what they’re doing. You start interviewing more and more people to get one hire who sticks. Remove thousands—or millions—of people from the workforce, there will be consequences, and unintended ones, and unfortunate ones, assuredly.”
“If all undocumented people were deported tomorrow,” Lyons continued, “it wouldn’t just affect restaurants that bend the rules. It would affect every kitchen, because when you remove a significant portion of the labor pool, the whole industry slows down.”
Operators across the country already struggle to staff prep lines and fill schedule gaps. Remove thousands more from the equation, and the ripple effects could include higher wages, higher turnover, limited hours, longer wait times—and yes, higher menu prices. The stakes are high, and it’s a lot for operators like Lyons to digest.
“We’re not trying to moonlight as immigration enforcement,” Lyons added. “We’re just trying to make good food and take care of people.”
Closer to the Border
Lyons brings a unique perspective to the national discussion—his restaurant is just a few miles from the U.S.-Mexico border. Many of his employees, he notes, commute across the border daily—some through trusted traveler programs like Sentri, others through hours-long waits at the pedestrian crossing.
“They are the most interrogated commuters in the world,” Lyons said. “They prove every day that they have every legal right to be here, and they still carry the weight of being treated like criminals.”
Tribute Pizza hasn’t seen a major disruption in recent weeks, but only because, Lyons said, they’ve already had their ICE moment. “We went through an inspection during the first Trump administration,” he said. “It was just paperwork, not a raid, but even that was enough to leave an impression.”
Since then, Lyons has worked to ensure compliance, implementing third-party HR services. He’s also using E-Verify, a site run by the Department of Homeland Security that helps business owners establish if a person is legally eligible for hire. Still, he insists that no amount of documentation can fully protect a restaurant when fear becomes the dominant force. “Agents don’t show up quietly,” he said. “They come to make a scene.”
Lyons also shared Robles’ fear of being singled out for even speaking on the subject. He said he spoke with PMQ Pizza because he felt like doing nothing wasn’t an option.
“I’ve been trying to thread the needle to answer the questions honestly while defending the ideals I hold true,” Lyons said in the email. “And I only hope I can do that without putting a target on the back of the restaurant after this goes to press.”
The Operational Cost of a Raid
What does a raid look like?
“A Friday night, full dining room, guests mid-meal, and suddenly there are agents ready for Fallujah, swarming the place,” Lyons said of the raids at Buona Forchetta and elsewhere. “Service falls apart, people panic, and maybe a whole night of sales is gone.”
Even in cases where no arrests are made and no violations found, the appearance of enforcement can lead to reputational damage, staffing shortages, and emotional fallout among team members.
It’s not just about avoiding fines. For many operators, the challenge is to preserve trust in their workforce and maintain stability in a labor market already under strain.
Searching for a Solution
While immigration remains a politically charged issue, the labor math isn’t up for debate. Restaurants need immigrant workers. Why not make it easier to legally immigrate, Frischling wonders? And he believes a common-sense solution is not out of reach.
“We need a solution to address our dependency and the criticality of immigrant and undocumented labor,” he wrote. His recommendations include expanding the H-2A visa program and introducing a hospitality-specific guest worker visa—proposals already supported by national trade associations like the National Restaurant Association.
For now, however, many small operators feel caught between conflicting realities: a labor system they depend on and an enforcement system they don’t control.
The View from LA: “This Isn’t New. This Is Back.”
Turkell has emerged as a key connector of pizza professionals across Southern California. It began as a joke, mostly, when he launched an Instagram account called “LOLCaesars” in reaction to a profusion of Little Caesars ads he was seeing on social media. When the pandemic hit, Turkell steered followers to a local L.A. pizzeria run by a friend, and customers showed up in droves. When mass wildfires started in January, Turkell helped the only way he knew how: through pizza. He helped form the LA Pizza Alliance—along with Tommy Brockert from LaSorted’s Pizza—and began feeding families in need.
As his role in the pizza scene of Los Angeles has grown, so, too, has his influence. That, paired with Turkell’s background in organizing, is what prompted Robles to connect Turkell with PMQ Pizza. Turkell didn’t mince words when asked how recent events have affected his network. He also challenged the idea that any of this was new.
“We’ve been here before,” Turkell told PMQ. “Some of us remember the raids in the early 2000s. And now they’re back.”
Turkell described a sense of fear rippling through kitchens across the city. “I know multiple shops that have quietly closed, that have pulled their heads down, or that are literally housing people and feeding families,” he said. He noted that staff morale in immigrant-heavy kitchens has plummeted, even at pizzerias that have not been directly targeted.
“I’m not scared of the guy flipping pizzas on the corner,” Turkell added. “I’m scared of the guy in full militarized gear throwing tear gas and flash bangs.”
What Can Operators Do?
While there’s no one-size-fits-all answer, many agree on a few takeaways:
- Know your documentation. Ensure I-9 forms are complete, accurate and up to date.
- Use verification tools like E-Verify if you’re in a jurisdiction that supports it, and consider third-party HR support.
- Educate your team about their rights—and yours—in the event of a workplace visit by enforcement agents.
- Stay informed about national trends and how they could affect your city or state.
Charlie Pogacar is PMQ Pizza’s senior editor.
