ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) – Birria ramen noodles and street tacos are among the most popular items on The Taco Shop’s menu in Rochester.
Despite the restaurant bringing creative Mexican cuisine dishes to the Med City, its manager, Ian Ruelas, says it’s been a rough start to the year following the surge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
“Our business was super-duper slow,” Ruelas said. “We definitely noticed that a lot of our Hispanic or Latino people who used to come in stopped totally coming in.”
Since opening in early 2025, Ruelas says the restaurant has made about $100,000 each month, but due to recent cold weather and fewer customers, the business has only seen about half of that in January.
According to Ruelas, customers and his employees are concerned that they may be targeted.
“Being that a lot of the tactics that ICE has been using have been kind of discriminatory, I don’t leave the house without my passport,” Ruelas said.
Ruelas says ICE agents have come inside the restaurant to look around but left shortly after without making a scene.
In response to the concerns, the Rochester restaurant has a ‘No ICE or CBS Access’ sign on its front door.
At its St. Louis Park location in the Twin Cities, the staff only opens the door when it’s a customer.
“If you see anybody who we think might be in uniform or anything like that, we kind of keep it away,” Ruelas said.
The restaurant says no matter the customers’ political views, they treat everyone with respect.
Find stories like this and more, in our apps.
Copyright 2026 KTTC. All rights reserved.