7 Taco Giro restaurants to remain closed indefinitely in wake of ICE raid

Seven Taco Giro restaurants,
including two in Tucson and one in Green Valley, will remain closed indefinitely as the
company’s owners scramble to replace 46 workers arrested last week by
ICE Homeland Security investigators.

Cesar Rodriguez, director of
operations for Taco Giro, said Tuesday about 10% of the company’s
employees were detained by ICE, crippling many of the restaurants
because they all were kitchen workers.

He said they have reopened three restaurants — on Valencia in Tucson, Casa Grande and Sierra Vista.

The hope is Taco Giro will be able to open their stores “little by little” as they hire and train staff, he said.

The restaurant at the Country
Club of Green Valley lost about six employees, he said, though no agents
ever showed up at the site

“Basically,
they corralled everyone in the homes where they were living, which was a
couple of houses. And they came into the establishment to verify
documentation and some questioning items what they were investigating on
and pretty much that was it,” Rodriguez said.

None of the detained employees have reached out to the company and it’s unknown where they are, Rodriguez said.

“The
accusation is they were paying the employees that were undocumented
cash under the table,” Rodriguez said, getting the attention of the IRS.

Essentially, Rodriguez said ICE took materials as part of what he calls an audit

“There
were a lot of false allegations that we were drug smuggling and child
trafficking. It was just ridiculous,” Rodriguez said.

Taco Giro had no prior contact with the IRS or ICE, he said.

Describing Taco Giro as a “mom
and pop” operation, Rodriguez said they’ve never had the money to pay
for E-Verify, a service that determines employee eligibility. When
employees were hired they were required to provide a copy of their
identification and fill out state and federal income tax forms,
including the I-9, or employment eligibility verification form,
Rodriguez said

With
most of the restaurants closed for now, Rodriguez said the company is
taking a look at possibly closing two underperforming restaurants, but
that’s something they were planning on doing anyway. Neither are in
Green Valley.

Last
December, when the GV Taco Giro opened, a restaurant manager said the
Ramos Mora brothers had a tradition of opening each new restaurant with
experienced employees from other restaurants who knew exactly what they
are doing inside and outside the kitchen.

The brothers started out in
2008, with their 22nd Street and Golf Links Road restaurant and they now
have 10 restaurants, including one in Sonora, Mexico. The others are in
Vail, Apache Junction and Nogales.

Friday’s
actions by the Department of Homeland Security involved 16 warrants
served in Southern Arizona. It made national news when U.S. Rep. Adelita
Grijalva was pepper-sprayed outside the Tucson restaurant on Grande
Avenue

Grijalva was
interviewed on The Buckmaster Show radio program shortly after the
incident with raised blotchy red spots on her skin.

“It
was just very scary, very scary,” she told Bill Buckmaster and Green
Valley News editor Dan Shearer, who were conducting the interview.

Tucson Sentinel reporter Paul Ingram was also pepper-sprayed during that incident, catching what Grijalva described as “the brunt of what was directed at us” directly in the face as he photographed the scene just two steps away from the congresswoman.

ICE
spokesman Fernando Burgos confirmed special agents and officers from
ICE Homeland Security Investigations, IRS Criminal Investigation and
other federal partners were involved. He said 46 illegal immigrants from
Mexico were arrested.