A journalist who works as the taco editor for a Texas-based publication was briefly detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the western part of the state last week.
José Ralat, a Dallas resident who is in charge of the section that reviews Mexican food and tacos for Texas Monthly magazine, took to Instagram and said that he was stopped three times by local and federal law enforcement officials in what he suspects was a coordinated operation.
According to Ralat, he was driving along a highway with his colleague while on assignment in western Texas on Friday when he was pulled over by local law enforcement in Alpine for allegedly driving about 5 mph over the speed limit.
Ralat denied that he was driving over the speed limit.
He said later that day, he and his colleague were stopped by ICE agents who approached their car in full tactical gear and questioned both men.
“Well, it finally happened — I came face to face with ICE agents,” Ralat said in his Instagram video that was posted on Saturday.
“We saw an ICE truck drive past us. We braced ourselves.”
According to the journo, the ICE agents asked for identification and detained them for around 30 minutes before releasing the duo with a warning.
“We just gave [our IDs] to them. We waited 30 minutes,” Ralat recounted.
“They wanted us to get anxious. It worked. They sent us off with a warning — a warning for what, I don’t know. Several minutes later, we were pulled over again.”
Ralat said later that same day, he and his colleague, Rodrigo Bravo, were stopped a third time — by Texas Department of Public Safety officers.
Ralat continued that the DPS officer suspected that he and Bravo were driving 77 mph in a 70-mile-per-hour zone.
Ralat denied that he was speeding. He said on his Instagram account that the car’s cruise control was set to 70 miles per hour.
“We got another shakedown. Again, no request for insurance. No request for anything except our IDs,” Ralat said.
“We gave it to her. She let us go with a warning. Again, for nothing. For a lie.”
While reflecting on the experience, Ralat said: “Yesterday sucked. I am pissed off and shaken, and I can’t wait for this to be over.”
Ralat speculated that the reason he and his colleague were pulled over was “because we are brown.”
“I want you guys to be careful. This is f–king real, and it is scary,” he said.
“Every single one of these law enforcement officers were brown — like us. I am upset, to say the least.”
The incident came amid intense nationwide scrutiny of ICE agents in the wake of unrest in Minneapolis and the recent deadly shootings at protests there.
The Post has sought comment from Ralat, ICE and DPS. A spokesperson for Texas Monthly told The Post that the magazine will publish Ralat’s personal account of the incident later in the day on Monday.
Ralat is best known as the nation’s first-ever taco editor at Texas Monthly, a role created specifically for him in 2019.
The magazine hired him to cover tacos and Mexican food culture across Texas, making the position the first of its kind in American journalism.
Ralat built his reputation over more than a decade of reporting on tacos, taquerias and regional Mexican foodways.
He began writing about tacos while working at the Dallas Observer, where he launched the long-running “Taco Trail” column and blog, documenting taco culture across the state.
His work has earned national recognition. Ralat is a two-time James Beard Media Award winner and the author of “American Tacos: A History and Guide,” a widely cited book tracing the evolution of tacos in the United States.
He has also appeared as a commentator on Netflix’s “The Taco Chronicles.”
