Mexican Restaurant In Texas Threatened With ICE Calls For Keeping Mask Rule

Restaurants in Texas are faced with a difficult decision after Gov. Greg Abbott's recent decision to drop the mask mandate. Several businesses have reportedly been criticized and threatened after saying they will still require people to wear face coverings when entering.

Abbott lifted the mask mandate last week, saying “it is now time to open Texas 100%.” He added that the order would take full effect on March 10.

But many experts disagree with Abbott. Stephen Love, President and CEO of the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council, said Abbott’s decision to remove the mask mandate in Texas was unfortunate.

“This could increase community spread of COVID-19 and potentially cause mutations called variants. Worn properly, face masks can block respiratory droplets of COVID-19 produced when an infected person coughs. Face masks help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic people who do not realize they have the infection,” Love said in a statement.

Picos, a Mexican restaurant in Houston, is one of the businesses that decided to continue requiring masks. Co-owner Monica Richards told The Washington Post that in reaction to its decision, several people sent hate messages through social media and even threatened to report staffers at the restaurant to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“It was just horrific. 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,” Richards told The Post.

Cantina Barba, another Mexican restaurant in Houston, said its staff was bullied by customers who did not want to wear masks even before the mandate was dropped. Co-owner Steven O’Sullivan said the restaurant has also faced threats of calling ICE officials.

But other restaurants are letting the customers decide whether or not to wear masks -- some reluctantly.

Richard Orozco, the owner of Piper's BBQ & Beer on Shepherd Drive, said the governor’s decision has created a no-win situation for restaurants.

“If we choose to enforce the mask policy, there's going to be vocal critics about that,” he noted. “If we say no mask, there'll probably be even more vocal critics.”