The renowned Mexican restaurant República in Portland is set to close its doors permanently next month, a decision its owner attributes in part to the policies of former President Donald Trump. After five years of serving their community, co-owners Angel Medina and Olivia Bartruff revealed the news of their closure on Wednesday, citing a significant downturn in business since Trump assumed office.

Medina expressed his concerns through a heartfelt post on his Between Courses Substack. He noted a sudden and dramatic drop in reservations, with the restaurant experiencing a loss of over 30% of its business almost immediately after Trump’s inauguration.

The announcement of República’s closure paints a grim picture of the current landscape for restaurants like theirs. “There is no clear horizon ahead – not under the current conditions, not with the realities we’re facing,” Medina and Bartruff wrote, underscoring the difficult decision they faced. “This decision wasn’t made lightly, and it certainly wasn’t made suddenly.” Their words reflect a deep sense of heartbreak and exhaustion, as they choose to confront their challenges head-on rather than remain in denial.

Medina also voiced broader concerns about the food service industry, which he feels is “under attack.” He mentioned the impact of aggressive Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids, particularly those occurring over 1,700 miles away in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which have heightened fears for the safety of his staff.

‘This decision wasn’t made lightly, and it certainly wasn’t made suddenly,’ they added. ‘We are heartbroken. We are exhausted. And we are choosing truth over denial.’

He said the food service industry is ‘under attack,’ adding that sweeping Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids more than 1,700 miles away in Minneapolis, Minnesota, have left him fearing for his staff’s safety. 

‘When the safety of my staff – people who built this place with their hands and their memories – could no longer be assumed, when their dignity and security were treated as negotiable, silence stopped being an option,’ Medina said.

‘We stayed quiet for a year, hoping things wouldn’t worsen,’ he added. ‘They did. And they will continue to.’  

República, a dining spot in Portland, will permanently shut its doors next month after five years of operation, co-owners Angel Medina and Olivia Bartruff announced on Wednesday

Medina said reservations ‘drastically dropped’ and that the restaurant ‘lost over 30% of our business almost overnight’ after President Trump took office last year

In a post last week, Medina (pictured) claimed the uptick in aggressive federal enforcement – including reported ICE raids on restaurants in Minneapolis – is a ‘rehearsal’ for similar campaigns in other cities 

Medina wrote that they tried to ‘fix a systemic wound with a bandage’ by tightening operations and waiting it out after numbers dropped last March, but said the ‘mistake’ cost more than they could recover. 

Before Trump’s administration, Medina said República averaged about 44 to 48 covers per night, but over the course of last week, it served only 100 covers total. 

‘Tourism disappeared. Habits shifted. Costs rose – not just food costs, but the human cost of staying in the game,’ Medina said.

In a follow-up interview with Portland Monthly, Medina said the business ‘felt it immediately’ after Trump’s return to the Oval Office, and that he soon heard horror stories of restaurant owners being targeted by ICE for speaking out.

He said he grew increasingly fearful of potential harassment of his employees or pressure to release their names, ultimately forcing the business to make ‘very drastic changes.’ 

‘We said, “Let’s make sure we protect the people we love the most,”‘ Medina told the outlet.

‘In a really end-of-the-world way, it goes back to Nazi Paris in the 1940s,’ he added. ‘Having to serve officers? F*** that.’

In a post last week, Medina claimed the uptick in aggressive federal enforcement – including reported ICE raids on restaurants in Minneapolis – is a ‘rehearsal’ for similar campaigns in other cities. 

Medina said the food service industry is ‘under attack,’ adding that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids more than 1,700 miles away in Minneapolis have left him fearing for his staff’s safety

República’s co-owners grew fearful of potential harassment of his employees or pressure to release their names, ultimately forcing the business to make ‘very drastic changes’ (pictured: Bartruff)

Medina said community comes alive at the table – not just through the food, but by seeing that those who cook and clear plates are real people, neighbors and parents, with ‘lives far larger than a shift number on a screen’

‘Fear moves faster than facts,’ Medina wrote. ‘And that fear doesn’t stop at immigration status. It spreads – to families, coworkers, neighbors, business owners. To people just trying to live without constant surveillance.’

‘Even to people who voted for this administration. Power, once unleashed, doesn’t check who supported it,’ he added.  

He warned that Trump has called for Portland to be ‘fixed’ and even considered deploying federal troops, stressing that anyone who knows the city understands just how dangerous that mindset is. 

‘We watched it happen in real time. We saw how quickly a sidewalk became a flashpoint, a park became a perimeter, a café became a line of sight,’ he wrote. ‘Cities don’t collapse all at once. They fray. Quietly. One room at a time.’

Medina said restaurants are no longer neutral havens – places where people go when hungry, looking for warmth, a moment of recognition, a birthday celebration or a space to grieve. 

‘A table is a promise. You sit down believing – even if only for an hour – that nothing bad will happen to you there,’ he wrote.

Medina’s prior post, written days before the closing announcement, warned that if federal agents begin treating restaurants as hunting grounds, the doors will not stay open

Medina wrote that enforcement and intimidation are very different – one operates in daylight and is accountable to process, while the latter relies on fear and humiliation

‘And when hospitality becomes reconnaissance, the room changes. Refuge becomes risk. Livelihood becomes calculation,’ he added. ‘The question becomes: Is it safe to come in today?’

The post, written days before the closing announcement, warned that if federal agents begin treating restaurants as hunting grounds, the doors will not stay open.

‘At that point, staying open becomes participation. Silence becomes consent,’ Medina said.

He said enforcement and intimidation are very different – one operates in daylight and is accountable to process, while the latter relies on fear and humiliation. 

‘There is a difference between law and cruelty – even when cruelty wears a badge,’ Medina said. ‘Once hospitality becomes a mechanism of harm, it ceases to be hospitality at all.

‘Some things are more important than staying open. Some things are more important than revenue. And some things are more important than service. Dignity is one of them.’

In Wednesday’s announcement, Medina told República’s team he was sorry for not being able to ‘turn the tide fast enough without losing ourselves entirely.’

Medina wrote: ‘We stayed quiet for a year, hoping things wouldn’t worsen. They did. And they will continue to’

The restaurant’s co-owner said that their employees ‘changed this city’s culinary landscape – We simply helped hold the door open’

In a direct statement to the city of Portland, Medina wrote: ‘The Mexican cuisine you celebrate today did not arrive by accident. It exists because of the labor, memory, and courage of the people in this kitchen – the tortilleras, the tortilleros, the cooks who brought recipes from home, who cooked from nostalgia, from history, from pride.’

He reiterated that República’s official closing date will be February 21 and said the last few weeks will be spent revisiting some of the city’s beloved traditional dishes.

Lilia Comedor and Comala – a nearby restaurant and bar operated by former República chef Juan Gomez under the same hospitality group – will continue to operate. 

In late 2020, Medina, Bartruff, and Romero opened their Pearl District spot in the Ecotrust building.

The Mexican joint earned Restaurant of the Year honors the following year, and in 2022, Bon Appétit magazine named República ‘Portland’s best Mexican restaurant,’ also featuring it among America’s Best New Restaurants.