Armed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided an underground nightclub and Italian restaurants on Friday in Southern California.
In the early hours of Friday morning, ICE agents arrested 36 Chinese and Taiwanese citizens suspected of being in the country illegally at an underground nightclub in Los Angeles.
The exact address of the nightclub was not provided by Los Angeles Homeland Security officers, who also assisted in the operation.
The agency shared a video on X of an officer preparing for the raid by putting on a vest in a parking lot before sunrise.
The video then cuts to a daylight scene, where a group of people is seen huddled on a sidewalk outside a building, some with their heads lowered.
Officers are shown handcuffing the individuals and placing them into white vans.
Members of the El Camino Real Financial Crimes Task Force also assisted in the raid, although their role is unclear.
The Independent has contacted the LAPD and the El Camino Real Financial Crimes Task Force for comment.
On Friday afternoon in San Diego, witnesses dining at Enoteca Buona Forchetta, an Italian restaurant, watched HSI agents storm the eatery, using flash bang grenades to disperse an angry crowd surrounding their trucks.
San Diego PD also responded to try to control the crowd, CBS 8 reports.
According to employees, both locations of Buona Forchetta on Beech Street were raided.
Claire Cody, a restaurant employee, told the news outlet that federal agents rushed in around 4:30 p.m., announced they had a warrant, and immediately handcuffed every employee present.
The agents then escorted the handcuffed workers to the central restaurant location, where the entire staff was detained while their IDs were checked.
Some employees were taken away, but the exact number is unclear.
“There was no stopping them,” Cody told CBS 8. “There were like 30 ICE [agents]. I mean, we were just all in shock.”
The restaurant, which would have usually been dealing with a Friday-evening rush of customers, was forced to close, staff putting up a “closed” sign before dinner service, according to CBS 8.
The Independent has contacted representatives for the San Diego PD, HSI Los Angeles, and ICE for comment.
These recent raids are part of a broader federal initiative under President Donald Trump’s second term. This initiative, known as Operation Safeguard, aims to detain and deport undocumented immigrants, particularly those in urban areas.
