Loyal customers are happy a Mexican restaurant in Lenexa has reopened after it shut down temporarily following a raid carried about by federal agents.
In September, El Toro Loco, re-opened after about a dozen employees at two of its metro area restaurants were detained in immigration raids on July 30, including at its location at 10088 Woodland Road in Lenexa, and another one in Kansas City, Kansas.
“Thank you all very much for your support, we appreciate your patience,” El Toro Loco Lenexa posted in a message on Facebook last month.
While the restaurant initially operated on limited hours when it re-opened, it has now resumed its regular schedule, open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sunday through Thursday, and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., on Friday and Saturday.
The re-opening was welcome news for Olathe resident Amy Matlack Diediker, who referred to the restaurant as a “family favorite” that often serves as a celebratory, end-of-the-week meal.
“(I’m) so happy they are back open,” she said in a message on Facebook. “I went back and it was delicious and wonderful.”
A manager for the restaurant was unavailable to answers questions by the Johnson County Post, an EL Toro Loco employee said on Tuesday, and the owners of El Toro Loco also did not return a request for comment for this story.
DHS gives no update on status of those detained
About a dozen people were detained during the raids on July 30. Two days after the raids, at least three were released, according to local nonprofit Advocates for Immigrant Rights and Reconciliation, or AIRR.
According to witnesses and other businesses in the strip mall near El Toro Loco in Lenexa, agents with Homeland Security Investigations, an investigative arm of ICE, first showed up at the restaurant around 11 a.m. on the day of the raid.
AIRR representatives who came to the restaurant as the raid was carried out questioned the HSI agents, who cited a criminal search warrant and suggested the investigation was related to “allegations of labor trafficking and exploitation.”
(HSI is a division within the Department of Homeland Security under ICE that typically focuses on investigating transnational crimes. Under the Biden administration last year, it was given a new website separate from ICE, in an attempt to distance HSI from ICE’s immigration-focused enforcement.)
When asked for comment this month on how many people from the El Toro Loco raids are still in custody or what charges they’re facing, Tricia McLaughlin, an assistant secretary with the federal Department of Homeland Security, repeated the same statement via email that she sent to the Post in August immediately after the raids, stating federal agents were “carrying out a criminal federal search warrant to rescue victims of human trafficking.”
“Extremists and activists … tried to interfere with law enforcement by storming the restaurant, calling law enforcement Nazis, and attempting to keep officers from leaving the scene,” McLaughlin’s statement continued, a reference to activists who showed up at both El Toro Loco locations while federal agents were there.
“Unfortunately, these types of smears and obstruction to law enforcement operations are becoming more and more common,” McLaughlin’s statement said. “Our brave ICE law enforcement are facing an 830% increase in assaults against them as they carry out.”
McLaughlin did not respond to follow-up questions from the Post about the raids.
Customers are happy to see El Toro Loco reopened
During the dinner hour one evening last week, the restaurant in Lenexa was busy with takeout orders.
Walking to his car, Joel Logan said he was excited that El Toro Loco opened back up.
“I was afraid that the raid might have been it for it, which would have been a damn shame,” he said. “This place has been a staple for us. It’s a hidden jewel for Lenexa and we hated to see what happened to it.”
Celebrating “Taco Tuesday,” Gerald and Connie Kramer said this was their first visit back since it re-opened.
“They’re my favorite Mexican spot in the area, hands down,” Gerald Kramer said. “It was so unfair to see the way they’ve been treated. And there are no answers to why it happened, who got sent away. We’ll probably never know.”
Raid prompted reaction from officials, activists
The same day the raid at El Toro Loco’s Lenexa location occurred, people gathered to protest the action.
“They’ve [ICE] been given a quota: 3,000 immigrants a day,” said Rep. Susan Ruiz, a Shawnee Democrat in the Kansas House, on the afternoon of July 30, a few hours after the raid, a reference to the Trump administration’s publicly stated goal of the number of daily arrests being sought at that time. “So what’s it going to take to meet that quota? Go where the Latinos are. Come into a restaurant and just kidnap people.”
At a Lenexa City Council meeting a few days later, several city councilmembers spoke against the raid.
“This kind of raid fosters fear, divides families and undermines trust in local institutions,” said Councilmember John Michael Handley. “Our community is stronger, safer and more just when all residents feel safe to live, work and participate in civic life without fear of being targeted.”
The raid compelled Councilmember Melanie Arroyo to reveal that Lenexa Police opened an investigation on her over the summer following a resident’s complaint to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.
As she prepares to leave the city council, she said she has hope for the future of Lenexa.
“We are capable of creating a better future for everyone through small and individual acts every day,” she said in an email to the Johnson County Post. “We can, and we are, working towards a future that is respectful of everyone’s inherent worth and dignity, and that is centered on compassion and not hate, divisiveness, nor violence.”
The issue also came up a few weeks later at the Johnson County Post’s Lenexa City Council forum in October. The candidates, including two current councilmembers seeking reelection and their challengers, addressed a question from the audience about ways the city can make people feel welcome after the federal raid.
Lenexa Ward 2 incumbent Bill Nicks and Joe Shull, who is challenging Handley in Ward 1, both referenced inclusion as one of the stated goals in Lenexa’s Vision 2040.
“When we have a diverse community, it’s obviously going to be more welcoming and get better results,” Shull said.
Nicole Wasson, a candidate in Ward 2, agreed that Lenexa being a melting pot is what makes it great.
“There is room enough for everyone in our lives. We just need to be welcoming in a way that enables understanding and certainly, we need a lot more of that nowadays,” she said.
The raids also sparked a protest in August that drew more than 1,000 people in Johnson County to stand along Metcalf Avenue in Overland Park, in part, to show solidarity with immigrants.
Speaking personally and not on behalf of any organization, Jae Moyer, an activist and member of the Johnson County Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Coalition, said they were encouraged to see El Toro Loco back in business.
“I’m very grateful the business was able to pick itself back up and continue operating,” they said to the Johnson County Post. “Local businesses are vital to the economic and cultural health of our community, and I believe our community owes it to them to support them.”
They added: “I believe it’s deeply harmful to our communities when federal organizations such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement tear families apart, especially at their place of employment.”
