{"id":9536,"date":"2026-01-21T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=9536"},"modified":"2026-01-19T16:32:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T22:32:20","slug":"fergus-falls-don-pablos-closes-amid-ice-fears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/fergus-falls-don-pablos-closes-amid-ice-fears\/","title":{"rendered":"Fergus Falls: Don Pablo\u2019s Closes Amid ICE Fears"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fergus Falls, Otter Tail County<\/strong> (trfnews.i234.me<\/a>) \u2014 Don Pablo\u2019s Mexican Restaurant has closed its Fergus Falls and Detroit Lakes locations. The owners said the move was tied to reports of ICE activity in the area.<\/p>\n

The restaurant posted on Facebook that it was \u201cclosed until further notice.\u201d The post blamed \u201cunforeseen family\u201d issues. A second post was shorter. It said, \u201cWe are closed.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the posts, a restaurant representative spoke with local media. The representative said the closure was due to ICE activity. The person said the goal was safety for workers and guests.<\/p>\n

What the restaurant said<\/h2>\n

The representative described a call from an unknown man. The caller asked if the restaurant was open. He also asked if ICE was nearby.<\/p>\n

The representative said they had not seen ICE. The call ended quickly. The representative said they then chose to close.<\/p>\n

The representative said they feared for customers and staff. The person added a short warning. \u201cNobody is safe,\u201d the representative said.<\/p>\n

Don Pablo\u2019s thanked customers for support in its Facebook message. You can view the related posts and reporting here:\u00a0Valley News Live<\/a>
\nand the restaurant\u2019s page:\u00a0Don Pablo\u2019s Detroit Lakes on Facebook<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Federal response in Minnesota<\/h2>\n

The closure came as federal immigration activity in Minnesota drew wide attention. On the same day, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said more federal officers would be sent to Minnesota.<\/p>\n

Reuters reported that Noem said \u201chundreds more\u201d officers were being added. The report tied the move to safety concerns for federal staff.<\/p>\n

Readers can learn more about ICE and its public mission here:\u00a0U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement<\/a>.
\nA broader national report on federal activity in the Twin Cities is available here:\u00a0PBS NewsHour<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Fergus
Fergus Falls: Don Pablo\u2019s Closes Amid ICE Fears<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What happens next<\/h2>\n

The restaurant did not give a reopening date. The posts said the closure would last \u201cuntil further notice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Don Pablo\u2019s has served diners in Fergus Falls and Detroit Lakes for years. Detroit Lakes is in Becker County. Fergus Falls is in Otter Tail County.<\/p>\n

Customers who had planned visits are encouraged to check official updates. The fastest updates are typically posted on the restaurant\u2019s Facebook pages.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m Chris Harper reporting for TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fergus Falls, Otter Tail County (trfnews.i234.me) \u2014 Don Pablo\u2019s Mexican Restaurant has closed its Fergus Falls and Detroit Lakes locations. The owners said the move was tied to reports of ICE activity in the area. The restaurant posted on Facebook that it was \u201cclosed until further notice.\u201d The post blamed \u201cunforeseen family\u201d issues. A second… Continue reading Fergus Falls: Don Pablo\u2019s Closes Amid ICE Fears<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12],"tags":[3346,913,6954,772,914,4965,10182,588,827,10384,10126,1375,1784,2518,10183,7580,7737,10184,2548,10383],"class_list":["post-9536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-amid","tag-becker-county","tag-closes","tag-crime","tag-detroit-lakes","tag-dhs","tag-don-pablos-mexican-restaurant","tag-don","tag-falls","tag-fears","tag-federal-agents","tag-fergus","tag-fergus-falls","tag-ice","tag-ice-activity","tag-immigration-enforcement","tag-kristi-noem","tag-minnesota-restaurants","tag-otter-tail-county","tag-pablos","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9536"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9536\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11984,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9536\/revisions\/11984"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}