Trump Burger, the MAGA-themed restaurant whose owner is about to be deported

Trump Burger is an unusual restaurant chain located in Texas that, more than food, sells the ideology of the American president. A full-length portrait of him greets customers at the door. A flag assures them that he’s right about everything. The buns come out of the toaster with the word “Trump” burned into them. It’s a political hagiography inside a fast-food restaurant. However, that same ideology is working against one of its owners: Roland Beainy, a 28-year-old Lebanese man who is about to be deported.

At the Houston branch on Monday afternoon, there were four people at Trump Burger. A man in a tie, another in a cowboy hat, and a mother with her daughter. The woman had taken a selfie with the Trump poster at the door before entering. She said it was her first time there and she found it curious. “I’m not aware of who owns it or anything. I just want to try it,” she said. She ordered the main menu item, the Trump Burger, which comes with cheese, lettuce, tomato, and freedom fries, the name Republicans gave to fries during George W. Bush’s term to avoid referring to them as “French.”

All dishes come with fries and advertising. They sell, for example, a chicken burger with onions and mayonnaise called Melania Crispy Chicken. “First Lady Approved,” the description reads. They sell Barron Burgers (Barron is the president’s youngest son), which are “a solid start to future greatness” with beef and ketchup. The most expensive dish, the Kamala Burger, costs $50.99 and is described as an “empty promise” with “muddled meat” — a “total disaster” the description reads, even though it isn’t available.

In the store, which is quite small, with red walls and dozens of flags, they also sell mugs, hats, sweaters, card games, and all kinds of souvenirs allegorical to the MAGA movement.

None of this has saved Beainy from deportation. The Lebanese citizen, who describes himself as a “culinary magnate,” entered the country in 2019 as a non-immigrant visitor. Under the terms of his admission, he was required to leave by February 2024. When he failed to do so, he was arrested last May by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. A month later, an immigration judge granted him bail while proceedings to return him to his country of origin are underway.

“Despite the false claims, Beainy does not have any immigration benefits that would have prevented his arrest or removal from the United States,” ICE said in a statement. “Under the current administration, ICE is committed to restoring the integrity of our nation’s immigration system by holding accountable all individuals who enter the country illegally or overstay their admission. This is true regardless of what restaurant he owns or what political beliefs he holds.”

A Trump Burger employee in Houston, who declined to give his name, told EL PAÍS on Monday that the news about Beainy was false and that the owner had even visited the restaurant that day. Beainy, for his part, shared several updates about his possible deportation on his Instagram stories, with messages like, “You’ll get through this,” and “Strength isn’t about never falling, but about getting up faster every time you do.”

Expansion and scandal

Beainey, who also owns another restaurant called Patti’s, opened his first Trump Burger in Bellville, a small town west of Houston, in 2020, when the Republican lost the White House to Joe Biden. The business prospered and expanded with three more locations in the same area of Texas, including Houston.

However, Trump has never approved Beainey’s use of his last name for commercial purposes. Last February, the president’s lawyers sent a letter to the fast-food chain accusing them of “misleading the public” since there is no affiliation between Trump Burger and the Trump Organization. “We were shocked to see that you have been flagrantly infringing on the Trump Organization’s valuable and well-established intellectual property rights by operating at least three restaurants under the Trump name and brand,” the document stated. In fact, the local newspaper The Fayette County Record reported that the company demanded that any marketing related to the president be removed from Beainey’s restaurants and threatened legal action.

On the other hand, the Lebanese businessman had applied for residency after allegedly marrying a U.S. citizen. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) denied any evidence of such a marriage. “This individual does not have a permanent resident card, has a history of unlawful marriages, and is accused of assault,” the DHS told the conservative network Fox News, calling the alleged engagement “a sham designed to manipulate the system.” “DHS is actively pursuing all legal avenues to address this blatant abuse of our immigration laws,” the department added.

Speaking to The Houston Chronicle, Beainey denied the accusations against him. “Ninety percent of the crap they’re saying isn’t true,” he asserted, despite his lawyers’ advice to remain silent. It remains to be seen how much of this falls into the 10% of truth the businessman accepts.

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