BIDDEFORD — Federal immigration agents arrested three staff members each from Kobe Japanese Restaurant’s locations in South Portland and Biddeford Thursday morning, according to a restaurant manager.
Immigration agents descended on the Biddeford location shortly after staff arrived ahead of the 11 a.m. opening time, said the manager on duty Friday, who requested anonymity because she was concerned for her safety. She said agents arrived at the South Portland location around that same time.
She said the agents requested proof of citizenship from everyone present and did not offer a specific explanation for the arrests. Among those taken were immigrants from China and Latin America, she said.
“All we know is that they are legal to work,” she said. “It’s hard to open a business right now. You’re basically targeted.”
Two kitchen staff and a hibachi chef were among those taken, leaving the businesses “severely short-staffed,” she said.
The news comes as restaurants and businesses throughout the state contend with a surge of federal immigration enforcement that officials have dubbed “Operation Catch of the Day.”
Though much of the activity has been centered in Portland and Lewiston, Maine’s two most populous cities, residents of smaller communities are also reporting an uptick in sightings and encounters with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
A hotline that allows residents to report tips of potential ICE action received 17 calls from people in Biddeford on Wednesday — the fourth-most of any city in the state — according to the latest available data from the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition, which operates the line.
One Biddeford resident told The Associated Press that ICE agents threatened him during a Wednesday visit to his home.
In a video shared widely on social media and verified by the AP, a man in police gear told the resident that “We’re going to come back for your whole family.”
On Friday, the South Portland Kobe location was closed and some of its staff had been moved to Biddeford — allowing one location to operate despite the staffing issues, the manager said.
The lights were mostly off at the South Portland location Friday afternoon. A handwritten sign in the window said the restaurant was closed “due to ICE” but said its staff all “have legal documents.”
Kennebunk resident Melissa Wentworth had planned to visit the Biddeford location for a belated birthday celebration Thursday evening. She made the reservation about a week in advance, but said someone from the restaurant called her Thursday afternoon and explained that they no longer had the staff necessary to accommodate her 10-person group.
Before moving to Kennebunk about five years ago, Wentworth spent about a decade in Biddeford, where her children attended school.
“It’s really scary to see it happening so close to home,” Wentworth said on a phone call Friday. “(My family members) were all upset, as well, not because of the canceled dinner reservations, but because a place that we love — that happened to their employees, who we all really respect.”
It’s not the first time the local chain was targeted by President Donald Trump’s mass deportation effort.
In June, masked Border Patrol agents arrested three workers from Kobe’s Bangor location as part of what officials called a “worksite enforcement operation,” the Bangor Daily News reported.
ICE spokespeople did not immediately return emailed questions about who was arrested, why they were taken or why the agency targeted the restaurants.
Staff Writer Aimsel Ponti contributed to this story.
