"Torta restaurant Güero posted on Instagram on May 10 about the detention of their cook, Jose “Poni” Gongora Poot, and linked to a GoFundMe raising money to support his family in the legal fight to bring him home. According to the GoFundMe, ICE agents forcibly took Poni from his car while he was traveling to work on Friday, May 8, and he has been detained in Tacoma since then. The GoFundMe has raised over $30,000 at the time of writing."
"“If you don't know Poni by name, you would recognize him as the cook singing in the kitchen loudly to all his favorite songs and saying goodbye to customers as they leave through the back door for the last decade. To his community, Poni is known above all as a loving father and husband, as well as a cherished friend and coworker - Truly an enormous and unexpendable presence in both his personal and professional environments,” the Instagram post reads."
"“As has happened to so many others, there is absolutely no reason or legal justification for Poni to be taken and held in chains. His warrantless abduction is unconscionable and we his community are committed to seeing him safely reunited with his wife and children.”"
"Once again, it feels silly to talk about restaurants opening and closing while people are being torn from their families and communities-let's keep the fight going against this system of brutal immigration enforcement."
ICE detained Jose “Poni” Gongora Poot, a cook for Torta restaurant Güero, after agents forcibly took him from his car while he traveled to work on May 8. He has been detained in Tacoma since then. A GoFundMe linked by the restaurant has raised more than $30,000 to support his family during a legal fight to bring him home. The Instagram post describes Poni as a long-time presence in the community, known for cooking, singing, and greeting customers, and emphasizes his role as a loving father and husband. The post condemns the detention as warrantless abduction without legal justification and urges continued opposition to brutal immigration enforcement.
#immigration-enforcement #ice-detentions #portland-restaurants #community-fundraising #family-separation
Read at Portland Mercury
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