The co-founder of a staple South Wedge Mexican restaurant has been detained by federal immigration agents.
Omar Ramos Jimenez, 50, is originally from Mexico and has lived in Rochester since 2004. He and his wife founded and ran La Casa on Alexander Street and, before that, operated La Placita at the Public Market.
Family and friends describe him as a father, beloved neighbor and community leader, and accuse Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of lying to Ramos Jimenez in order to get him to their office this week and arrest him.
ICE allegedly contacted Ramos Jimenez on Monday and told him he needed a new phone app installed for reporting to ICE, and it needed to be done in-person at the agency’s Buffalo field office.
He first was detained by ICE in 2013 and paid a $1,500 bond to be released. Since then, he had sought to receive both asylum status and a cancellation of removal. He was denied those protections in 2020 but quickly filed an appeal. The appeal of that ruling is ongoing. Ramos Jimenez has meanwhile been complying with all requests and check-ins from ICE for the past 5 years, according to a federal complaint filed Wednesday by his attorney, Grace Zaiman.
When he arrived at the ICE offices on Wednesday, the complaint states, he was immediately arrested.
“(Ramos Jimenez) was told by ICE officers that their decision to take him into custody was due to changes in presidential priorities and policies and to ensure his future attendance at court hearings,” the complaint reads. “When (Ramos Jimenez’s) counsel indicated he did not have any scheduled court hearings but was awaiting a decision on his appeal, the ICE officers responded that by taking him into custody his appeal decision would thus be expedited.”
Zaiman did not immediately return a request for comment. The complaint alleges the federal government denied Ramos Jimenez his right to due process by failing to hold a bond hearing or an individualized hearing prior to his detainment. It is seeking his immediate release or a hearing on the matter, as well as an order barring his removal from New York.
Ramos Jimenez founded La Casa in 2013 alongside his wife, Maria Bocanegra, under the ownership of landlord Lyjha Wilton. The couple had previously run a successful Mexican restaurant, La Placita, at the Public Market in a building owned by Wilton adjacent to Boulder Coffee. While the couple had set up and established the restaurant, they were never listed as owners due to their undocumented status. The original plan was for the restaurant to be transferred to their daughter, Leila, on her 21st birthday, according to a federal complaint later filed by the couple.
The relationship between the couple and Wilton soured shortly after the restaurant’s opening. During that time, both Bocanegra and Ramos Jimenez were detained by ICE. The complaint filed against Wilton alleged fraud, unpaid wages, and violation of labor law. They settled out of court in 2015.
Ramos Jimenez no longer has any affiliation with La Casa, a family spokesperson said, and the new complaint states that for the past eight years he has worked in lawn care and snow removal.
Rochester City Council President Miguel Meléndez said the way in which Ramos Jimenez was detained only stokes more fear of how immigration enforcement is unfolding under the second presidential administration of Donald Trump.
“This is exactly what we have anticipated, in terms of them targeting anyone and everyone,” he said. “It's happening."
Ramos Jimenez is also the father of Cassandra Bocanegra, the senior manager of organizing and strategy for the Finger Lakes chapter of the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC). Bocanegra declined to comment until later in the day Friday. NYIC and other immigration advocacy groups are planning a rally at 5 p.m. outside Spiritus Christi Church on North Fitzhugh Street.
“I think that we're in one of the darkest times that I've seen with our government,” said Myra Brown, pastor of Spiritus Christi. “And I think that's saying a lot, because we've seen some pretty dark times during the Civil Rights Movement and during the era of enslavement.
“The way in which this government is taking advantage of the vulnerability of people who are foreign-born,” she continued, “using all of their legal maneuvering to disappear them, to capture them, to punish them, retaliate against them, and to work really hard to create a narrative to convince supporters that there's something right and righteous about what they're doing is diabolical.”
