ICE activity on the rise in Pittsburgh’s Beechview neighborhood, business owner says

PITTSBURGH — The executive director of Casa San José told Channel 11 that there’s been an increase in ICE activity in Pittsburgh’s Beechview neighborhood over the last month.

The owner of Las Palmas said agents have been outside of their business twice in the last 24 hours.

“They grabbed some customer who was in the front of the store,” owner Joey Berumen told Channel 11.

Berumen’s family owns Las Palmas grocery store and taqueria on Broadway in Beechview.

He told Channel 11 that yesterday around noon, multiple Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents showed up in front of his business and detained one of his customers as he was walking out of the building.

Channel 11 obtained surveillance video that shows the black SUV pulling up in front of the store with its lights flashing and blocking the customer’s car in.

“He went to his vehicle, and two black Explorers and a Nissan Pathfinder just closed him in. As soon as he got into the vehicle and opened up the door and arrested him and took him,” Berumen said.

There was a confrontation between Berumen and one of the agents after Berumen said he refused to let him inside his store. Someone recorded the argument on their phone, and you can see the two men having words.

Berumen said he is an American citizen and his family hires employees who are in the process of becoming U.S. citizens.

He posted about what happened on the Las Palmas social media because he wanted to warn customers that ICE was in the area.

“We have been here for 20 years, and it’s starting to get frustrating a lot because it affects the sales here. It affects the community here, our business. Everything in our community and other locations that we have,” he said.

An ICE spokesperson said they are conducting ICE raids across the country, including in Beechview.

He did not answer questions about this specific incident at Las Palmas.

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