L’Oca d’ Oro Declares Itself a Sanctuary Restaurant

Posted by on Jan 30, 2017 in Rob's Blog

The national furor over sanctuary cities and counties in the U.S. has extended to a local restaurant, L’Oca d’ Oro in the East Side Mueller neighborhood.
The owners have a sign out front declaring it to be a sanctuary restaurant, meaning that they would not comply with federal requests to detain undocumented workers without an actual warrant.

This type of activity, on the city and county and now business levels, is driving Trump and others like our esteemed governor crazy. And I say “let them eat cake.” If this restaurant wants to make it a bit harder for the Federal government to ruin the lives of undocumented workers, many of whom substantially contribute to the Texas hospitality industry, I am all for it.

Trump can withhold federal funding to put pressure on the cities and counties. But what’s he going to do to an Italian restaurant in Austin? Put an excise tax on Parmesan cheese?
I hope more Austin restaurants follow the example of L’Oca. This city has been built on the backs of many undocumented immigrant workers, many of whom wind up in the hospitality business.