SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — A now unsealed search warrant includes claims of employment and labor violations against the owner of Buona Forchetta which prompted agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to raid the restaurant last Friday.
A tribute with flowers and signs of love continues to grow outside of Buona Forchetta, while the inside remains closed through at least Tuesday.
"A message was trying to be sent, and that message was actually fairly scary," said Tammy Lin, adjunct professor and supervising attorney for USD's Immigration Clinic.
While several questions still remain, Monday came with some major answers.
A search warrant application claimed Buona Forchetta's business owner was "knowingly employing both illegal immigrants and individuals not authorized to work in the United States."
It goes on to allege the owner was "exploiting these employees by having them work over 12-hour shifts with no breaks."
The warrant mentioned the initial tip submitted to Homeland Security Investigations dated back to November 1, 2020.
A follow-up tip came January 31, 2025.
This let to HSI serving Buona Forchetta with a Notice of Inspection, giving the restaurant at most three days to produce Forms I-9, documents that establish identity and employment authorization.
HSI said the inspection identified 19 instances in which an active employee submitted a fraudulent green card to work there. According to the search warrant application, that's about half of the restaurant's 40-person staff.
A surveillance operation followed, lasting three days (May 22, 23 and 25).
The search warrant, signed by Judge Karen Crawford on May 29, was executed on May 30. That's when ICE agents detained four people during the Buona Forchetta's Friday night dinner rush.
"Do the arrests end at the undocumented immigrants, or is there anyone within the restaurant, ownership-wise or management-wise, who could also be in jeopardy?" ABC 10News asked Lin on Monday.
"That's always been an argument amongst advocates," Lin said, "that they always seem to punish the worker, and you never see them punishing the large employers....So, there are some potential penalties for them, but that's going to be up to the prosecutors of whether or not they feel they have a case and if it's worth the time and money to to move forward with that."
The search warrant application said the practice of intentionally hiring unauthorized aliens is a violation that could lead to imprisonment or fines.
The search warrant contains no evidence that the 19 employees it claims used false documents are violent criminals, which contradicts what Homeland Security and the Trump administration have claimed are the only targets of these enforcement operations.
"ICE is working day and night to remove murders, pedophiles, and gang members from American communities," Homeland Security said in a post on X the day after the raid.
“My question is, why was this such a big operation when in the affidavits and things, it doesn't seem that any of it is that these are criminal folks?" Lin asked. "It's that they're using false documents.”
Still, Lin does not believe these claims fit the agents' "militarized" response, as she put it.
Lin added, "This isn't something new. This has always been going on since the start of the United States of people being here and working without status. I just question the approach that was taken by ICE."
Buona Forchetta sent ABC 10News this statement late Monday night in response to the release of the search warrant:
"We have just received a copy of the warrant related to the recent ICE Worksite Enforcement Operation at our South Park restaurant. This is the first time we are seeing the document, and we are in the process of reviewing it carefully with our legal counsel. We will provide further comment as appropriate after our review. Thank you for your continued support and understanding.
- The Buona Forchetta Family"
Follow ABC 10News Anchor Max Goldwasser on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
