Brett Sholtis

bsholtis@ydr.com

A popular restaurant was closed for about two weeks after four of its employees were arrested by U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement.

Aroma Buffet & Grill, located near Walmart in Springettsbury Township, reopened Wednesday morning with some new employees, said restaurant manager Kyle Lin.

Lin said he was just hired to replace the previous manager, who was let go following the incident. Lin said he didn't know whether his predecessor's layoff was also tied to the recent arrests. “I’m not sure if the previous manager hired them or knew their proper status, or if those employees provided false information.”

READ: Pa. caretaker charged in bed bug death

READ: As his 10-year-old son dies, dad squeezes a lifetime into months

The four kitchen employees were arrested as part of a recent surge in Immigration & Customs Enforcement activity, said Stephen Converse, the attorney representing them. The men are all in their mid- to late 20s and are from Guatemala, Mexico and El Salvador.

Converse declined to provide his clients' names, but he said none has a criminal record. Their only crimes, he said, are being undocumented immigrants.

Converse said he's seen more than a dozen York County immigration status-related arrests in the past three weeks. He's spoken with 16 arrested people, eight of whom he's representing as an attorney.

None of his clients has a serious criminal record, Converse said. A couple had minor infractions including a first-time DUI and driving without a license.

The arrests signal a dramatic change from the Obama era, Converse said. "The Obama administration very methodically focused on criminal aliens. Now they're targeting everyone."

The court system has also changed tack, Converse said. In the past, his clients could usually get bond and remain free while awaiting a hearing. Now, that's not an option. He's also hearing similar stories from elsewhere in Pennsylvania, such as in Palmerton, Carbon County, where 14 undocumented immigrants were taken into custody.

READ: How 'A Day Without Immigrants' impacted Central Pa.

Officials from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in York County and Philadelphia could not be reached for comment. In mid-February, ICE issued a statement that said the department does not confirm an operation prior to its completion and does not speculate about future operations. It also said that officers regularly conduct targeted enforcement.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did say in February that more than 680 people had been arrested in large metropolitan cities across the country, including New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

The apparent change in immigration arrest policy has created a sense of fear and panic among the Latino community, said Elodia Barajas, a parent liason for the school district of the City of York. In some of the district's schools, up to half of the students are Latino.

Some Latino families are so scared they've stopped going outside unless absolutely necessary, Barajas said. Some parents have begun to make plans for who might be able to take care of their children should they get arrested.

"They’re so afraid that they’re not sending their kids to school," Barajas said. "They don’t leave the kids outside. They don’t take them to the park."

READ: From Cuba to York: An immigrant's tale

Immigrant talks about deportation fears, is detained by ICE moments later