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ICE agents eat breakfast at Michigan restaurant, then detain workers

Posted at 7:34 PM, May 24, 2017
and last updated 2017-05-25 11:13:26-04

A restaurant in Ann Arbor, Michigan was targeted Wednesday morning by federal immigration agents. Some workers were arrested as they tried running away.

Inside Sava's restaurant, they are still confused about what happened hours earlier. Dominique Sanchez says her husband was wrongfully targeted.

He was back at work Wednesday night.

Sanchez says, "They literally just turned him quickly, handcuffed him, and threw him in the back of the vehicle."

Her husband Jose Carlos Rivera Ochoa was detained briefly by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents waiting for him out back when he went to throw out the garbage.

He was eventually let go because he had his green card on him.

Sava Lelcaj Farah owns the restaurant, and claims several agents had breakfast first, and then went looking for some of the restaurant's workers. Three others were arrested out front Wednesday morning, after running scared.

She told us, "We've been dealing with fears for months and months, and then we've been heightening our compliance measures as well. We want to be in compliance, even though we back everyone 100%."

ICE confirmed it targeted the restaurant, saying in a statement, "Sergio Cardenas Rubio and Jesus Ortiz Hernandez unlawfully entered the United States without inspection at an unknown date and location. Mohamed Souman lawfully entered the country, but did not depart in accordance with the terms of his status."

Two of the men were let go, while one man stayed in the custody of the federal agency.

We're told agents had been looking a specific worker, who wasn't on duty Wednesday.