When U.S. Customs and Border Protection arrived in the Triangle on Nov. 18, the streets seemed empty. As immigrants retreated indoors, many of the area’s businesses and restaurants shuttered their doors.

“We heard of a movement, that a lot of Hispanically owned chains — restaurants, stores and all that — were deciding to close,” Steven Matias, general manager of the Triangle-based Mexican restaurant chain Gym Tacos said. “So we wanted to stand with our community as well.”

Border Patrol entered the Triangle after a weekend of immigration enforcement arresting more than 130 people in Charlotte, in what the U.S. Department of Homeland Security referred to as “Operation Charlotte’s Web.”

Word spread quickly of Border Patrol’s imminent arrival in the Triangle on the night before detainments began, and so did a call to action from restaurant owners. Once a few Hispanic-owned restaurants in the area shared they would close operations in the face of immigration enforcement, eateries throughout the area followed in their footsteps.

Gym Tacos closed all of their six locations in the Triangle for two days. For Matias, the decision to close was simple — they wanted to protect the community, customers and employees alike. 

More than 26% of the United States’ restaurant and food service work force is Hispanic, while Hispanic people make up just 19% of the country’s total labor force. 

At Bandido’s Mexican Cafe in Chapel Hill, many employees are Hispanic immigrants with work permits. But under an administration that has detained several immigrants with legal documentation and citizens, having legal status does not stop the fear, Bandido’s Mexican Cafe co-owner Antoni Sustaita said.

Knowing all of his employees have a legal right to work in the United States, Sustaita was not initially worried about needing to close the restaurant due to immigration enforcement. The night before Border Patrol arrived, however, Sustaita was flooded with calls and messages from his concerned employees, and he knew he had to close to support them.

“My people were terrified to leave the house, which is bad,” Sustaita said. “Someone worked so hard — it’s not cheap to get a work permit, attorneys and all, and they’re having to miss work.”

Fear of immigration enforcement and deportation has heightened in Triangle restaurant kitchens since President Donald Trump took office in January. Gray Brooks, chef at Durham’s Pizzeria Toro, said the restaurant’s back-of-house staff, the majority of which are Hispanic, feel confused and betrayed about increased deportations. 

“They literally say to me, ‘We don’t understand, we’re not criminals, we have families, we work hard. All we want to do is work hard and raise families and be here,” Brooks said. “There’s just this sadness they all seem to feel.”

When Brooks heard his employees’ concerns about possibly being detained, he considered closing Pizzeria Toro, but instead chose to reduce operations — and the need for staff to be in person at the restaurant — by only offering takeout for two days.

As restaurants announced their closures or limited operations through social media or signage on front doors, the community reacted loudly. 

Matias said that while many people supported Gym Tacos’ decision to close in social media comments, the restaurant chain also received frequent critical, rude comments supporting Border Patrol.

Bandido’s Mexican Cafe received several calls accusing them of employing illegal immigrants — accusations that Sustaita said show how people are uneducated about immigration enforcement.

“Don’t jump to conclusions because a business closed down, that’s because their employees are undocumented,” Sustaita said. “They need to watch the news and see that even people who are natural born American citizens are being targeted because of the color of their skin.”

Restaurants who closed or reduced operations during Border Patrol’s presence lost revenue for those two days, but profits were the least of many restaurant owners’ concerns.

“We did take the risk to fall in sales, but it meant a lot more to us to stand with our community and with our people than to just keep going on as normal,” Matias said. 

Even while offering takeout, Brooks said Pizzeria Toro was significantly less busy than it typically is — it was like a ghost town. 

During Pizzeria Toro’s two days of reduced operations, Brooks still paid the restaurant’s staff who could not come to work. He said it just felt like something they had to do, even though they could not have afforded to continue paying staff while losing revenue if Border Patrol had continued their stay.

“Our entire kitchen staff, they want to come to work. They’re here. They don’t want to not be here,” Brooks said. “And they’re just left without a choice.”

As Customs and Border Protection departed the Triangle on the morning of Nov. 20, restaurants weighed whether it was safe to reopen yet, or if doing so would still put their community and employees at risk. 

Early that morning, Matias and the owners of Gym Tacos drove around downtown Raleigh for two hours to see if they noticed any vehicles or officers that looked like Border Patrol. When they did not see anything concerning, they made the decision to reopen. 

“My employees, they said, ‘Okay, we appreciate you supporting us, but we understand that life goes on,” Sustaita said. “So enough was enough. So we opened up.”

Even as restaurants opened their doors in the days following Border Patrol’s Triangle presence, many customers seemed to continue to stay home. Matias said the restaurant faced more down periods shortly after their reopening due to continued concerns in the community.

With Border Patrol detaining more than a dozen people in the Triangle during their brief presence, restaurant owners do not regret the lost revenue and reduced traffic .

“The whole reason behind it, from our standpoint, is to stand with our community, to stand with our people,” Matias said. “And that doesn’t just mean Hispanics, it means anyone and everyone from any type of race or religion that is facing the same type of fear, the same type of terror.”