DATE:
July 22, 2025
10
TO:
Board of Supervisors
SUBJECT
Title
PROTECTING SMALL BUSINESSES AND WORKERS: KNOW YOUR RIGHTS WHEN ICE ARRIVES (DISTRICTS: ALL)
Body
OVERVIEW
When federal enforcement actions spiral out of control, it's San Diego's workers, small business owners, and neighborhoods who pay the price. That's what happened on May 30, 2025, when federal immigration agents raided Buona Forchetta, a beloved family-owned small business in South Park, during dinner service. Twenty armed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in tactical gear stormed the restaurant, detonated flash-bang devices, and handcuffed employees in front of families and children. The raid forced nearby after-school programs to evacuate and prompted the restaurant to shut down all San Diego locations for days.
The chaos left workers shaken, customers traumatized, and the neighborhood reeling. And it made something painfully clear: most small businesses don't have the information they need to respond appropriately during sudden ICE raids, or to protect their workers while staying in full compliance with the law.
In those moments, fear takes over. Legal rights get blurred. Small business owners, who are focused on serving their community and keeping up with payroll, are thrown into crisis without a roadmap.
Small businesses are the backbone of San Diego's local economy, with nearly 380,000 small firms serving as vital anchors in every neighborhood. Many are immigrant-owned, operating on tight margins that leave little room for sudden disruptions. When they're destabilized, entire communities feel the ripple effects.
What happened at Buona Forchetta wasn't an isolated incident-it's part of a dangerous pattern already playing out across San Diego County. And with the passage of H.R. 1, the pattern is set to accelerate. That law delivers the largest ICE funding increase in U.S. history, fueling more raids on small businesses, more fear for immigrant workers, and mo...
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