Arizona restaurant owner threatened for 'Latinos Support D. Trump' sign

Donald Trump and Betty Rivas during a campaign rally Saturday, March 19, 2016, in Tucson, Ariz. (ap)

Betty Rivas and her husband spent 20 years building up their business from a small lunch wagon to a full-blown restaurant, but now all that hard work is being threatened because she attended a Donald Trump rally.

Rivas, who owns Sammy's Mexican Grill in Arizona, said that she has received threats and menacing phone calls after Trump pulled her up on stage during a rally over the weekend while she was holding up a sign that read "Latinos Support D. Trump.”

"Surprise to me he said, I love you darling,” Rivas told local media about meeting the GOP front-runner. "Donald Trump is a little funny, and he said c'mon, c'mon and I go up and say hi and that's it."

The restaurant owner thought that her encounter with the billionaire businessman would simply be a good story to tell friends, but word of her appearance with Trump – and her sign – spread over Facebook and the comments soon followed. There were calls to boycott Sammy's Mexican Grill, along with other more threatening notes, and then people started haranguing her over the phone.

"The bad messages came today, in the morning it started, when I come here to the restaurant,” Rivas said. "The phone is ringing, stupid things only."

Rivas, who is from Mexico, said that she doesn’t want to be viewed as racist and that she supports the Latino community. She added that besides going to the Trump rally she also attended an event for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Democratic presidential candidate.

"I want to tell the Latino community that I'm not a racist. I love Mexico. I'm a Mexican,” Rivas said. "I never thought Donald Trump would have called me up to say hello."

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