Pancho’s Tacos in Mount Vernon is sizzling again. The family-run shop reopened Tuesday, nearly six months after a Homeland Security Investigations operation on Oct. 9, 2025, forced the popular taco counter to shut its doors. Regulars quickly filtered back in as the owners quietly resumed service and started the slow work of rebuilding their staff.
According to The Columbus Dispatch, the Mount Vernon location officially flipped the lights back on Tuesday. The business had signaled its intentions in early November with a Facebook post announcing plans to reopen and advertising open interviews for cooks, dishwashers and servers, as reported by Spectrum News.
Raid and arrests
Homeland Security Investigations carried out the Oct. 9 operation that abruptly closed the restaurant, and federal authorities said five people tied to the business were taken into custody. Several of those arrested had prior removal orders and remain in custody pending immigration proceedings, according to Knox Pages.
Community support and finances
In the days after the raid, friends and longtime customers launched a GoFundMe campaign that pulled in roughly $7,300 to help with legal costs and payroll, according to the fundraiser page. The sudden closure and arrests stirred a heated debate around town and prompted a city statement noting officials were not notified ahead of the operation, Spectrum News reported.
Wider enforcement context
The hit on Pancho’s did not happen in a vacuum. U.S. immigration authorities ramped up enforcement in Ohio over the winter, with ICE launching "Operation Buckeye" in mid-December to target people it described as criminal aliens. Federal releases and local TV coverage point to a surge in arrests across Columbus and surrounding counties during that campaign, as documented by ICE and WLWT.
The restaurant’s owners were not immediately available for comment, according to The Columbus Dispatch. For many in Mount Vernon, though, the reopened taco spot is both a welcome return to normal and a visible reminder of the tensions the raid brought to the surface.
