Mexican food has been a mainstay in American cuisine since the second half of the 1900s, with free tortilla chips and birria now available in pretty much every corner of the United States. Mexican immigrants translated their traditional foods into cookbooks, restaurants, taco trucks and supermarket staples in ways that serve as both a blueprint for economic success and a source of cultural pride.But who gets to enjoy Mexican food these days? As U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement continues disproportionately targeting Latino communities, including Mexican Americans and Mexican nationals, is it fair for ICE and its supporters to dig into some mole con arroz and mulitas?The question felt particularly relevant last week, when ICE officers enjoyed lunch at a family-run Mexican restaurant in Willmar, Minnesota, then returned shortly thereafter to detain three workers.While the agents dined at El Tapatio earlier in the day, staff appeared “frightened,” according to a witness, but served them and showed hospitality anyway. Hours later, as the restaurant was closing, the same men showed up outside and took the employees into custody.According to the Minnesota Star Tribune, bystanders who saw the arrests blew whistles at the agents as one person called out, “Would your mama be proud of you right now?”Online, people were just as outraged.“This is the kind of shit that would make you completely outside the bounds of any ancient society, the gods bestow generational curses for violating hospitality,” historian and podcaster Patrick Wyman wrote on Bluesky.The incident took place against a backdrop of intensified federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota and public outcry over the recent killing of Renee Good by an ICE officer.Earlier this week, President Donald Trump ordered about 1,500 active-duty soldiers to prepare for a possible deployment to Minnesota, where some 2,000 ICE officers are already stationed and making arrests, sometimes breaking down doors of homes despite not having a judicial search warrant.Some restaurants in the area have closed their doors as workers stay home rather than risk deportation.ROBERTO SCHMIDT via Getty ImagesSigns on a Mexican restaurant in Forest Lake, Minnesota, that temporarily closed this week after ICE officers descended on the area.Bruno, the owner of a Mexican restaurant also in the Twin Cities, said that he was taken aback by the cruelty of the arrests at nearby El Tapatio.“You can imagine employees were in fear the entire time that the agents were there, but worked through it, and then their fears came to life,” said Bruno, who asked to use a pseudonym to protect his business. “The only analogy here is when the bad guys make you dig your grave before they put you in it,” he told HuffPost. Amid the escalating violence, Bruno said the need to protect his own employees has been a constant and daily worry for him.“During service, we actually keep our doors locked to prevent immediate entry to ICE,” he said. “We’ve had meetings with lawyers about the different types of warrants and what they mean to our staff.”What they’ve landed on is that they’ll allow ICE the least amount of entry possible and ask if the agents have a warrant. “Then, we’d call friends to peacefully watch and put pressure on the situation outside,” he said. It’s not just Mexican restaurant workers who are worried, of course. Any ethnic restaurant could be seen as an easy target by ICE since immigrant workers represent 36% of restaurant owners and over 20% of the sector’s workforce.Earlier this week, an ICE officer reportedly entered a Thai restaurant in St. Paul, Minnesota, with his handgun drawn while accusing the establishment of “hiding a kid,” the restaurant’s owners said.Bloomberg via Getty ImagesFederal law enforcement agents outside a private residence in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Jan. 18, 2026. Some people have suggested that not everyone should get to enjoy ethnic food and the other joys of multiculturalism if they support these sweeping immigrant raids. In August, podcaster and former Bravo star Jennifer Welch went viral for suggesting that Trump voters should be banned from ethnic restaurants and stick to Cracker Barrel. “I’ve had it with white people that triple Trumped that have the nerve and the audacity to walk into a Mexican restaurant, a Chinese restaurant, an Indian restaurant, go to a gay hairdresser,” Welch said in the clip. As much as Bruno would love to turn away folks he and his staff disagree with, he thinks serving them is the only way to make a difference.“By teaching them about our culture and showing them our hospitality, we believe we’re doing the most meaningful thing to change their minds,” he said. “We also truly believe in the idea that America is stronger because of our diversity. So when they go low, we will continue to go high.”Caro, the owner of a Mexican restaurant in Washington, D.C., is all too familiar with the anxiety restaurant owners in Minneapolis are experiencing now. At the height of the raids in D.C. in the fall, she lost five employees to ICE. They were not detained at the restaurant, but outside their homes or on their way to work. None of them were criminals, and they were all hard-working people, said Caro, who also asked for anonymity to protect her business. She knows of another D.C. employer who lost four employees that same day. The reality is that all restaurants have a large portion of employees who are immigrants, she said. halbergman via Getty ImagesIf the Trump administrations continue to deport as many people as possible, the economy will eventually collapse, said Caro, a Mexican restaurant owner in D.C. “Our country runs on the backs of hard-working immigrants,” she said.One of Caro’s long-term managers, a friend, was among those captured by ICE. The man was taken to a makeshift jail and says he was not fed for three days. Caro’s friend was told his options to fight his case would leave him in the facility for an extended period due to wait times.“He was so stressed for his physical well-being and told his mother that he could not ‘take it anymore,’” she said. “He self-deported and left his children, wife and mother here in the U.S. I was depressed for weeks knowing all that he lost in his life due to this. He is now back in El Salvador, a country he hasn’t seen since he was a child.”But she said it’s upsetting to serve customers wearing Make America Great Again hats or those who support ICE and policies that separate immigrant families.Sometimes, customers aren’t shy about vocalizing their anti-immigrant sentiments.“We once had a customer sit at our bar and tell our bartenders that he couldn’t wait to go to the border and help sweep up immigrants,” she said, adding that the man said he’d have no qualms about shooting anyone who tried to come into our country illegally.“It felt like a threat for him to come into a Mexican restaurant to let our staff know his intentions and plan, which involved violence,” she said. “We called the cops as our staff felt very uncomfortable and didn’t want to serve him.” People like that “shouldn’t be allowed to dine in our restaurants or take part in our culture,” Caro said. If the Trump administrations continue to deport as many people as possible, Caro thinks the economy will eventually collapse.“Our country runs on the backs of hard-working immigrants,” she said.