Arizona Mexican restaurant swamped with hate over free meals for ICE, but owners respond with ‘God bless you’

An Arizona Mexican restaurant run by immigrants has been swamped with hateful messages, calls and online reviews over it giving free meals to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, but the owners say they are responding with kindness.

"We're trying to respond in a positive way, just because I know that putting more hate onto hate is not going to lead anywhere good," Jorge Rivas, who owns Sammy’s Mexican Grill, told Fox News Digital on Tuesday.

In a recent video shared on social media by the outlet Pulso, Sammy’s Mexican Grill was highlighted as a restaurant that respects federal immigration enforcement agents and offers them free meals.

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"Everything started because a local reporter asked me that the offer that we have on the wall of the restaurant about serving free meals to law enforcement officers, if that also extended to ICE agents," said Rivas, who is originally from El Salvador.

"And I say, of course it does because they're also law enforcement agents," he said. "You know, there are agents that work for the federal government. Obviously, working under the great leadership of President Trump. And they're enforcing the laws that have been on the books for many years, the same laws that were enforced by other presidents like Obama, Clinton, et cetera. So they are not doing anything different. And for us to offer free meals, it's just our way of saying thank you for being out there, putting your life on the line, risking your safety."

Since the video went viral, Rivas said the restaurant has been inundated with hateful reviews and calls, but that staff try to respond politely. 

"Many calls, we just say, you know, ‘God bless you, thank you, you have a great day,’" Rivas said. 

Rivas said the surge of one-star reviews has concerned him, noting that some online posts accuse the restaurant of unsanitary conditions or food-related illnesses.

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"But still, after so many calls, it tends to get you," he added. "You know, when you hear the negativity and the insults over and over, it bothers you, you know, whether you want it or not. And also all the one-star reviews on Google, I know sooner or later people are going to start wondering, you know, ‘Is this real, are they as horrible,’ because they write, ‘Oh this place is full of cockroaches,’ or ‘You know, I got so sick off eating a burrito.’" 

Rivas emphasized that the policy of offering free meals to law enforcement is not new.

"We have been doing this for the last five years or more," Rivas said. "Officers have been coming over to our restaurant and, 90% of the time, they don't pay for it. Sometimes they say, ‘I want to pay for it because I got my last two free meals. Last time I came here, I got free meals,’ so they do pay every once in a while, but most of the time they do not. So this is not something new that we just started to do a couple of days ago."

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Rivas, an outspoken supporter of President Donald Trump, has been active in state Republican politics. He ran unsuccessfully in the GOP primary for Arizona's 7th Congressional District last year and even made a bid for the GOP gubernatorial nomination during the 2022 cycle.

Tensions surrounding ICE have increased after the death of Renee Nicole Good, who was shot and killed in January in Minneapolis by an ICE agent after she allegedly attempted to ram an officer with her vehicle.

Protests against federal agents have continued to escalate since the Border Patrol killing of Alex Pretti on Jan. 24.

In January, ICE reported that it has had an over 1,300% increase in assaults, a 3,200% increase in vehicle attacks aimed at officers and an 8,000% increase in death threats.

Rivas told Fox News Digital that his message to the people who are protesting is to "use their life and their time doing something better."

"I know that many people feel that they need to have a goal, they need to have a purpose in their life," Rivas said. "And they think that by confronting ICE agents or federal agents, that will fill the void that they have in their heart. They need to look for Jesus and for God for moral values and that will make them feel better." 

Fox News' Alba Cuebas-Fantauzzi contributed to this report.