https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/06/mexican-restaurant-mask-mandate-ice-threat/
This week, after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) said Tuesday that he would rescind the statewide mask mandate while the vast majority of residents remain unvaccinated, the tough choice to enforce public health guidance fell to business owners, and Picos announced it would continue requiring masks. But, after such a challenging year, the reaction to their decision was disheartening, co-owner Monica Richards said: Several people sent hateful messages through social media and called the restaurant, threatening to report staffers to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
"It was just horrific," Richards said. "People don't understand unless you're in our business what it felt like, how hard it was to go through everything we went through during covid. For people to be negative toward us for trying to remain safe, so that this doesn't continue to happen, just makes zero sense to us."
Another Houston Mexican restaurant, Cantina Barba, received similar intimidating messages, and staff have been bullied by some screaming customers who refused to wear masks while it was required statewide, co-owner Steven O'Sullivan said.
"This has been ongoing through covid," O'Sullivan said. "We've had threats of calling ICE. I had one guy just stand there and berate one of my bartenders and tell her 'you're an absolute idiot, you don't know what you're doing. If you think these masks are going to save your life, you're stupid' blah, blah, blah. Nobody wants to deal with that stuff."
One employee of Grand Prize Bar in December had to get stitches after he was hit in the head with a glass by a maskless customer he approached, Houston Police said.
Acevedo expressed faith that most Texans will continue to wear masks once the mandate is lifted — a hope shared by Richards. After the threats to her restaurant staff were reported by the Houston Chronicle, she said, a wave of support followed, as people thanked her and her family for keeping people safe. Many customers who reached out told Richards that they favored masks, she said.
"That other side has been wonderful," she said. "We had a wonderful day yesterday. Our staff was thrilled and thankful."
But Richards, whose family has served Mexican food in Houston for over three decades, says she has also seen a less predictable — and in this case, a hateful — side of people in the pandemic that she had not before.
"Being Hispanic, and going through that immigration process, and finally receiving your papers, and then for somebody to start threatening you after you've been through all that, that's crazy," she said. "It's just heartbreaking."
