A famed Florida restaurant whose owner pledged loyalty to Donald Trump is now struggling with empty tables as the president’s immigration crackdown keeps customers away, The Bulwark reported Friday.
“People are scared to come out and visit. When we make specials, sometimes we have to throw them out because they go bad,” an employee of El Arepazo told The Bulwark’s Adrian Carrasquillo, estimating a roughly 80% drop in business.
Just seven months ago, owner Maximo Alvarez welcomed Trump to the restaurant in Doral — home of the MAGA leader’s Trump National Doral Miami resort — with open arms, telling him, “I just want to be loyal to you.”
But according to The Bulwark, that loyalty didn’t get him too far.
“I went to Doral this past week to see,” Carrasquillo told readers on Friday. “And what I saw was a ghost town—a shell-shocked version of its former glory.”
“Once a hub of Venezuelan and South Florida culture, the place seemed subdued, sapped of the energy, vibrancy, and music that had been so prominent during my previous visits,” Carrasquillo added.
Doral voted for Trump by 23 points in 2024, the reporter noted. But he pointed out, “even Trump’s cherished places are not immune from the chaos he’s unleashed.”
Now immigrants stripped of their legal protections fear detention and deportation, while families struggle to pay bills, he said.
Meanwhile, at Trump’s golf club on Thursday, Carrasquillo said border czar Tom Homan promised even more enforcement.
“Wait until you see what we do next year,” Homan said.
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