Attorney General Jeff Sessions ate at two Mexican restaurants in Houston Friday, giving a speech to federal prosecutors and law enforcement officers. In the speech, Sessions emphasized his support for law enforcement and urged the nation to support common sense measures to reduce gang violence.
“This should be obvious: if we want to reduce violent crime we should reduce illegal immigrant crime,” Sessions said, while addressing the group. “If you’re not prepared to lock up dangerous criminals to protect the public, you’re not fulfilling your responsibility.”
National media outlets, including CNN, Newsweek and CBS News, covered Sessions’ choices in dining at La Mexicana for breakfast and El Tiempo Cantina for dinner, which posted a picture with the attorney general that said it was an “honor” to serve him.
Afterwards, the post was met with severe backlash online, including El Tiempo’s owner getting death threats.
“We have gotten so many complaints and comments,” Dominic Laurenzo, the owner said. “And threats, death threats. This has been extremely shocking to our family.”
This forced the eatery to delete not only the Sessions post, but their entire account.
“We didn’t think we were doing something wrong,” Laurenzo told KHOU. “We didn’t have any idea this was going to happen.”
Laurenzo said his son, pictured in the post, only discussed fajitas with Sessions and that the attorney general was “treated like any other guest – with kindness and hospitality.”
In fact, the restaurant owner tried to make it clear to online dissenters that he did not support Sessions’ policy positions, especially on gay rights and immigration issues.
“People are insulting us in such a dramatic fashion, and we feel like we don’t deserve it,” Laurenzo added, per KTRK. “At least temporarily I had it taken down because I don’t want to be insulted, my children to be insulted, my family to be insulted.”
Harassing Trump administration officials about and at public restaurants has gained popularity this summer. In June, protesters swarmed Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen as she dined at a Mexican restaurant near the White House. Days later, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was forced to leave the Red Hen in Virginia.
After Sanders posted on Twitter that she had been asked to leave the restaurant, the Red Hen was at the center of a social media tsunami, including widespread cheering by liberals.
After the Press Secretary’s incident, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) urged fellow Democrats to ramp up the pressure.
“If you see anybody from that cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd and you push back on them,” she said.
Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
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