Cleveland Heights community rallies around Cilantro Taqueria following ICE raid

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio (WOIO) – Federal immigration enforcement is ramping up across the country and we’re seeing the impact right here in Northeast Ohio.

Many in the community are furious following an Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid at a Mexican restaurant in Cleveland Heights over the weekend.

You will find messages of support written in Spanish and English outside of Cilantro Taqueria in Cleveland Heights.

19 reporter Kelly Kennedy spoke with the owner briefly off camera. He didn’t want to say much but did confirm that ICE agents showed up at his restaurant Sunday looking for a former employee with a criminal record. When that person wasn’t there, ICE agents arrested six other employees. Now, the community is rallying around them.

12-year-old Shelby and her 8-year-old siblings Mason and Georgia made most of the signs.

“It makes me feel really sad because we came here like, every day for dinner, when we first moved here, and when I first heard about it, like we were all crying,” Shelby said.

Alfred King was in the restaurant when four ICE agents showed up.

“Bum rushed everything and told all the workers to come to the side,” King recalled. “So, they was basically asking questions they told me, you know, get out.”

A viewer sent us photos of the federal agents outside. Shay Hayes was walking her dog when they arrived.

“It was like the SWAT team coming like Batman,” Hayes said. “It was crazy I’ve never seen nothing like it and I’m 38. I’ve never seen nothing like it, and I ran like I ran the opposite way because I’m like I don’t know what’s going on but once I seen the police I knew it was that time.”

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said there were 956 arrests across the country Sunday. The Geauga County Sheriff confirmed they received 20 people from the raids at the Geauga County Safety Center; which is one of two ICE detention centers in Ohio.

“I just couldn’t believe it because the way they came in and was talking to them and basically just you could tell the workers was scared,” King said. “I’ve seen it all their face.”

19 News reached out to the Department of Homeland Security to find out if any of the detainees were in the country illegally or if they have criminal records, but so far, we have not heard back.

“It’s just scary and we all need to stand up together,” Hayes said. “I hope that they know that I’m going to still buy my Mexican bowl with my white rice, my black beans.”

For 8-year-old Georgia and her siblings – it’s simple.

“I’m very sad because everybody should because everybody should be invited here because it’s a place where people stayed here because they wanted to be safe,” Georgia said.

Some people we spoke to said they’re organizing a rally this Saturday afternoon to support Cilantro and anyone else in the community affected by this.

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