Wow, things really do seem to be rough lately for serial fabulist Aaron Rupar and, apparently, his sense of proportion. As we noted last week, Rupar took to X to lament that his city was being “brutalized” by the federal government — a dramatic claim, especially coming from Minnesota, a state that has lately become synonymous with large-scale fraud and institutional mismanagement rather than federal oppression.
Posts may be a bit more sporadic from me today as my kids are home from school because my city is being brutalized by the federal government to the extent that it’s unsafe for schools to be open
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 8, 2026
Now Rupar is back on his regular posting schedule and has decided to share what appears to be very sad, very personal news: the oldest Mexican restaurant in his hometown is temporarily closed. Tragic stuff. Cue the violins.
Naturally, the implication floating around social media is that Immigration and Customs Enforcement somehow swooped in and shut the place down. But let’s pause for just a moment and apply even a minimal amount of common sense. ICE does not “shut down” restaurants. The only scenario in which federal immigration enforcement would halt operations is if an entire staff were found to be in the country illegally and taken into custody. There has been no evidence presented that this occurred. None. Zero.
ICE shut down the oldest Mexican restaurant in my hometown of Forest Lake, Minnesota — a city that voted overwhelmingly for Trump (and Pete Hegseth’s hometown too)
Feel safer yet? pic.twitter.com/z0Z2Svb4KT
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 13, 2026
So what actually happened? That part is much less cinematic. The restaurant is closed “for a little bit,” according to the sign on the door. Not permanently. Not padlocked by federal agents. Just closed temporarily. Anyone who has lived in the real world understands that businesses close temporarily all the time — for repairs, staffing issues, renovations, plumbing problems, repainting, or a hundred other mundane reasons. The sign does not say “ICE shut us down.” It does not say anything at all about immigration enforcement.
The confusion appears to stem from a post by a local Indivisible chapter, which breathlessly claimed that “harassment and intimidation of local businesses continues,” alleging ICE activity at Mexican restaurants across the region. Even that post stops short of saying ICE shut the restaurant down. Instead, it claims agents attempted to search a different location without a warrant, were rebuffed, and left. Somehow, in the retelling, that morphed into ICE forcing a restaurant to close.
I’m very sorry that you have been mildly inconvenienced. I’m sure the folks who have dead loved ones as a result of illegal alien crime/drunk driving/etc. will feel very badly for you
— Theophilus Chilton (Scots-Irish Supremacist) (@Theo_Chilton) January 13, 2026
And here we arrive at the familiar pattern. A vague claim, an emotionally charged narrative, and a conclusion that goes well beyond the available facts. Are we suggesting that Rupar is pulling a Rupar? The question answers itself.
For what it’s worth, Google still lists the Forest Lake location as open, and Don Julio’s has multiple locations throughout Minnesota that continue operating. Only the owners know why that particular restaurant chose to close temporarily, and until they say otherwise, all the speculation amounts to little more than political fan fiction.
Seems like they shut themselves down.
— Ande Jacobs (@HeadBand42) January 13, 2026
The restaurant will likely reopen. Rupar will continue posting. And reality, inconvenient as ever, will once again refuse to cooperate with the narrative.
