Good News from Nupa After ICE Raid in Rochester, MN

It's hard to believe that only a week and a half ago two men were detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at Nupa North in Rochester, Minnesota.

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Nupa shared the news of the ICE raid at the north location (on Civic Center Dr.) on their Facebook page on Wednesday, February 12th. The post says:

"Unfortunately, we had one person working that may have been working under false documentation. We do not know as of right now why he was detained. The other person detained is unknown at this time."

They also mentioned, "From our understanding, ICE never asked for any documentation and arrested them in the parking lot. We are waiting to hear more."

I can't imagine how scary that must have been for the two who were detained, the people working, and the people who were at the restaurant enjoying a meal at the time.

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Unfortunately, one of the men who was detained made up for many of their man hours at the north location. So a few days later, on Saturday, February 15th, Nupa shared:

"We have chosen to consolidate our employees to South location since it provides more space. We didn’t want to stretch ourselves thin and overwork our employees"

As of Thursday, February 20th, Nupa still didn't know the reason for the detainment. They did share, however, that "an immigration hearing is set to take place next week" for at least one of the men.

I haven't seen any update on the hearing, but Nupa did share a positive update over the weekend: "North is open!"

Nupa has reopened their north location on Civic Center Dr. and is open 11 AM - 9 PM. Go and support local and get lunch or dinner from them sometime soon! I know I plan to.

In other Nupa news, they're in the running for 2025 Minnesota's Best in multiple categories. They share more details in their Facebook post, but you can go and vote for them now.