Thread: CA: ICE raids popular P.B. restaurant The French Gourmet

ICE raids popular P.B. restaurant The French Gourmet
UNION-TRIBUNE BREAKING NEWS TEAM
12:39 p.m. May 15, 2008







AP photos / Lenny Ignelzi
Federal immigration officials have detained about a dozen people at the popular French bakery and catering company The French Gourmet on Tourquoise Street in Pacific Beach.

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SAN DIEGO – A popular Pacific Beach bakery and restaurant was targeted Thursday in a search by federal immigration officials who took into custody workers suspected of being in the country illegally.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents executed a criminal search warrant at The French Gourmet on Turquoise Street near Cass Street at 7:45 a.m. said agency spokeswoman Lauren Mack.

She said the warrant was part of an “ongoing criminal investigationâ€

Bakery workers detained in San Diego immigration raid
By ALLISON HOFFMAN, Associated Press Writer
Thursday, May 15, 2008

(05-15) 17:24 PDT San Diego, CA (AP) --

Eighteen employees of a popular French bistro and catering company were arrested Thursday on immigration violations, authorities said.

Agents executed a criminal search warrant at the French Gourmet, an institution in San Diego's oceanfront Pacific Beach neighborhood known for its wedding cakes. Workers in chef's whites and floppy toques were searched in a delivery area behind the restaurant before being taken to a different location for questioning.

All 15 men and three women arrested are suspected illegal immigrants from Mexico, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The men were taken to an immigration detention facility in San Diego and may be returned to Mexico, ICE said. The women were released on "humanitarian grounds" to care for their children.

Agents were at the restaurant for about six hours collecting company documents, said Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for ICE. No one from company management was arrested.

ICE said the search warrant is under seal because its investigation is ongoing.

The raid was the first at the 29-year-old company, according to French Gourmet marketing manager Jodi Breslow. She said she believed the company may have come under scrutiny because they cater events on military bases in San Diego.

Breslow said the company had collected federal employment eligibility verification forms and photo identification with each worker's job application. Those documents were provided to immigration officials, she said.

Twelve scheduled catering events proceeded as scheduled after the raid and bakers continued preparing wedding cakes for weekend ceremonies, Breslow said.

Miguel Unzueta, special agent in charge of ICE investigations in San Diego, said the arrests were part of a "nationwide effort to shut down the employment magnet fueling illegal immigration."
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Previously posted at:
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-115626-bakery.html+workers
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