Charlotte’s Latin restaurants face worker fears, fewer customers as raids persist
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Border Patrol in Charlotte
U.S. Border Patrol began making rounds in Charlotte on Saturday morning.
This follows recent Border Patrol activity in Chicago that made headlines, with some reports alleging agents violated people’s rights.
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As the U.S. Border Patrol operation in Charlotte continues, restaurant owners and customers alike are feeling a cloud of fear hanging over day-to-day life in the city.
Dalton Espaillat, who is among the area’s most successful restaurateurs, is among those watching the events taking place and sharing concern, even though his businesses haven’t been among those hardest hit.
“It just seems that there’s been a lot of terror brought into our community,” Espaillat said. “In my opinion, they have done a great job bringing the terror into here.”
Espaillat owns Raydal Hospitality Group. Under its umbrella are the businesses he built from the ground up, including 16 Sabor Latin Grill restaurants, Three Amigos Mexican Kitchen & Cantina and La Caseta at Camp North End, plus the Carolina Cooks restaurant supply stores in Charlotte and Asheville.
He said employees and customers — even restaurant owners who normally shop the supply store — have been fearful to leave their homes while the U.S. Border Patrol is in Charlotte, conducting widespread arrests in public places.
“We have a high Latino population. A lot of our customers — restaurant owners — they’re afraid to come out, which kind of leads me to believe, why are they afraid? You know, they own a business. They’ve been here for a while, but they feel that they’ve been targeted,” he said.
U.S. Border Patrol action in Charlotte
Since Saturday, Nov. 15, masked agents in paramilitary gear have swarmed areas with heavy Latino populations, including grocery stores, restaurants and a church. They also raided a country club. Authorities have released few names and little information on those arrested — just that the number has topped 200, as of Tuesday — and as such it’s unclear how many people detained have criminal records or pending criminal charges.
Many Latin-owned restaurants and shops have closed for now, including Manolo’s Bakery — where Border Patrol-protests swelled late into the night on Monday — and Legends Ice Cream & Snacks, which saw business slow to almost nothing over the weekend.
In the community
In Charlotte’s Steele Creek neighborhood on Tuesday, businesses remained open with mixed experiences during the lunchtime rush.
At noon at the Sabor Latin Street Grill location on South Tryon Street, Spanish-language music played over the speakers as customers of all ethnicities — white, Black, Asian and Hispanic — rushed in to order on Taco Tuesday, when the restaurant’s Tacos Autenticos are on sale for $1.49. Some wore business casual, while just as many were outfitted in neon-accented safety vests, delivery uniforms and other blue-collar workwear.
After taking an order in Spanish, the cashier told CharlotteFive that he hadn’t seen Border Patrol agents anywhere around, adding, “That’s why there’s only two of us working right now.”
Throughout the next hour, the restaurant bustled with orders for burritos, nachos and other Latin street food offerings as the few workers spoke to each other in Spanish. Every table was filled, with a few folks waiting for takeout orders.
By 1 p.m., however, the dining room was completely empty again, although the phone continued to ring.
Outside, a handful of people on their lunch breaks ate in their parked cars, while others rushed to get back to work.
A few steps away inside China Tea Room, a restaurant worker behind the counter wearing a surgical mask told CharlotteFive there had been no effect on business from the Border Patrol presence.
Two of the three diners inside the Chinese restaurant — Latino workers dining together— said they hadn’t seen federal agents in the area and felt safe. “I’m good. He’s good,” said the younger of the pair, eating with paint-covered hands.
However, at nearby Sweet Dreams Havana restaurant, Cuban music filled a dining room that was empty, save for one man looking at his cellphone.
Emily Vargas, a hostess posted at the door, shared a video of Border Patrol agents stopping a white van near the restaurant early Tuesday morning. She told CharlotteFive that three people were arrested, and they were co-workers of the husband of a Sweet Dreams Havana employee.
Vargas hesitated to say much more, but noted the effect the federal actions have had on business the past few days, sweeping her hands out toward the space normally filled with diners munching on croquettes, Cuban sandwiches and ropa vieja.
“As you can see, there’s not a lot of people,” she said of the restaurant, which changed its name from A Piece of Havana about a year ago when its ownership changed.. “Usually, there are some.”
‘Trying to understand what’s going on’
Espaillat described a disconnect between the U.S. Border Patrol’s statements on its mission to arrest criminals and what’s taking place on the ground in Charlotte.
“I’m seeing what’s happening in the city, you know, trying to understand what’s going on. We understand ... if you’re criminal, you should go to jail. You know, if they are coming here for the criminal, that’s 100% supportive, you know that,” Espaillat said.
“And I can see how the community does not want any criminals here, but it doesn’t seem like that’s the case here,” he continued. “They see that they’re just targeting the Latino population. They’re targeting Latino businesses, the Latino neighborhoods.
“As far as I know, Latinos are not the only immigrants in this country. Just because of being Latino doesn’t mean that you are criminal — me being an example of it,” said Espaillat, who immigrated here from the Dominican Republic.
“My employees are afraid — people that are here legally with their documents, proper documents — that are afraid that they might be targeted because they might not speak good English, or they look too Latino for whatever that means,” he said.
“But it’s very unfortunate that does it just happen in such a fast way, and it has affected business that much that quick, Espaillat continued. “We understand that if you’re here illegally, if you’re a criminal, yes, we’re all up for that. But the way that it’s being done, I don’t think it’s being appropriately done with the amount of terror, and the kids and everything — just a specific community being targeted.”
Alex Cason contributed reporting.
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This story was originally published November 18, 2025 at 3:37 PM.
