A prominent Waco chef who built a thriving business over three decades and once served food at former President George W. Bush’s Texas ranch was deported in March following an arrest tied to a 23-year-old deportation order.
Sergio Garcia, owner of the popular Sergio’s Food Truck, was taken into custody while loading his truck when approached by plainclothes officers.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents deported him to Mexico within 24 hours, separating him from his wife Sandra and four American-born adult children.
The arrest shocked the Waco community of more than 146,000 residents.
Garcia had become a fixture in the local business scene, known for his Mexican cuisine and charitable acts toward fellow entrepreneurs.
Floyd Colley, owner of Brazos Bike Lounge, expressed disbelief at the news.
Garcia had leased restaurant space to Colley for his bike shop and previously supported him when he operated as a mobile mechanic.
“I wouldn’t have a shop if it weren’t for Sergio,” Colley stated.
“You heard all this stuff about rounding up dangerous criminals, but it’s like, ‘Well he’s one of the best people I know.’ I certainly don’t believe he’s a dangerous criminal.”
Colley noted Garcia’s generosity extended to waiving rent during difficult months.
The business owner initially assumed authorities had made an error in the arrest.
The Texas Tribune reported that Garcia entered the United States in 1989 at age 29 with a friend after becoming frustrated with his employer at a construction company in Veracruz who refused salary increases.
He arrived with a passport and visa, though he eventually overstayed.
During that era, visa overstays were treated as minor administrative violations.
Neither the Department of Homeland Security nor ICE existed at the time, the Daily Mail noted.
Garcia found work in local restaurant kitchens and pursued his dream of becoming a chef.
He worked at Czech Shop and the Brazos Queen II riverboat restaurant, where he met Sandra, who was visiting with a dance troupe from Monterrey, Mexico.
Head chef Geoffrey Michaels allowed Garcia to use the kitchen after hours to prepare shrimp cocktails and ceviche.
Garcia built a customer base selling ceviche in Styrofoam cups to soccer players, eventually purchasing his first food truck.
By 1995, Sergio and Sandra opened El Siete Mares, their first permanent restaurant location.
The couple worked seven days a week as the business grew and expanded its menu.
Former employers began referring customers to the seafood establishment.
“And that’s when my business started growing with white people,” Garcia said.
El Siete Mares relocated to a larger space by 1995.
After Bush’s election in 2000, the restaurant became popular with the press corps covering the president’s visits to his Texas ranch.
The 2011 economic downturn forced the Garcias to close El Siete Mares.
They recovered in 2013 with a new restaurant and food truck, generating approximately $100,000 annually before closing in September after Garcia’s daughters attempted to maintain operations without him.
Throughout their years in Waco, the couple hired immigration attorneys in Austin, Houston, San Antonio and Florida attempting to obtain legal status.
“We spent so much money hiring different lawyers and different lawyers,” Garcia stated.
Garcia claimed one Houston attorney mishandled their case, leading an immigration judge to issue a deportation order in 2002.
ICE disregarded the order for over two decades until this year.
Immigration attorney Susan Nelson explained that authorities can no longer weigh community contributions when enforcing deportation orders.
“Now they’re going out and looking for people with those old orders,” she said, according to Daily Mail reporting.
ICE officials described Garcia as a “twice-deported criminal alien from Mexico” who received full due process and was ordered deported by an immigration judge.
The agency stated he “fled from authorities and remained an immigration fugitive for more than 23 years.”
