Fear is surging in the food service industry as the Trump administration rolls out changes to the immigration system, itself a brace for a promised crackdown on undocumented workers.
Authorized and unauthorized immigrant labor is essential to the staffing and operation of U.S. restaurants. In a 2024 data brief, the National Restaurant Association reported that 21% of restaurant workers in the United States are immigrants. However, that number does not include rogue workers. The Center for Immigration Studies estimates that it counts an additional 1 million employees.
Under the new administration, owners and workers are preparing for the worst.
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement sweep at Newark's Ocean Seafood Depot on Thursday deepened the anxiety (though it's unclear whether the actions that resulted in three arrests were part of the Trump administration's plan). And many restaurant owners across the country were reluctant to be interviewed, saying they were worried about their businesses or workers being targeted. Some declined to comment at all.
Chicago and its restaurant industry have been anticipating ice action since plans for post-inauguration immigration action were leaked to news media last week. Chicago will be the first location.
Even well-known Chicago chefs and restaurateurs who have been vocal about political issues in the past, including immigration, were hesitant to speak publicly about the threat of immigrant arrest. the owner told the New York Times.
The photo provided to the Times says, “No ice in the building! And no snitching!” (The person who provided the photo asked not to be named for fear the restaurant would be targeted.) ) and the script was given to the restaurant employees. .
One veteran Chicago chef and restaurateur, who asked not to be named for fear that his restaurant would become a target for ICE, said since Monday he has not been able to tell his employees what to do in the event of an ICE visit. Kika said he kept a binder on the host's stand advising employees.
The chef said the employees who speak publicly about their fear of ice are the ones he knows are at no real risk of being deported. “If you're one of those people who is legitimately concerned about your immigration status,” he said, “you're going to be pretty quiet about it where you work.”
Andres Reyes said the threat of immigration crackdowns is a topic of conversation between employees and customers at both locations of his Chicago restaurant, Birrierias Ocotlan. His father, Ramon, opened the original restaurant in 1973 in South Chicago, one of the city's oldest Mexican immigrant neighborhoods.
“We have people who have been here for 40 years. They are still working on getting their papers. They are not criminals,” he said. “They're working, they're contributing members of society. It's a shame they can be caught in the middle.”
According to the Immigration Policy Institute, 53% of unauthorized immigrants in Illinois have lived in the U.S. for more than 15 years, and 37% have at least one child who is a U.S. citizen.
Reyes attributes the drop in business and slower-than-normal streets in some neighborhoods to fears of a sweep, in part. “Many unauthorized immigrants are not spending money because they fear deportation or setbacks,” he said.
Another famous Mexican-American chef in Chicago, who requested anonymity, said misinformation is making an already stressful situation worse. Chef's Restaurant has been on high alert three times recently after employees got word that a nearby restaurant was being raided by immigration agents.
In Los Angeles, where long-standing fears of immigration enforcement had subsided in recent years, anxiety was rising among food service professionals.
According to the Pew Research Center, California is the state with the largest number of unauthorized immigrants. 1.8 million people. The Migration Policy Institute estimates that 950,000 of these people live in Los Angeles County. (More than half of them have lived in the U.S. for more than 15 years, and 17% are homeowners.)
One U.S. citizen who grew up in Mexico, a Los Angeles chef and restaurant owner, was preparing for a meeting Friday with his entire staff to address the horror of the ice visit and go over plans. building. ICE agents can legally visit public areas of businesses, like dining rooms, but require a warrant or permission from staff to enter private spaces.
“Tensions are high and this is something we need to prepare for like an emergency,” said the chef, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “We should make a plan.”
A San Francisco chef who requested anonymity said he hopes the preparations will ease anxiety among restaurant workers.
The chef, an unauthorized immigrant, was fielding questions from jumpy staff. “When you're scared, you're scared of people in uniform,” he said. “You see the cops and wonder if they're going to get in. You don't know what powers they have.”
He gave all employees flyers and cards made by immigration attorneys with basic information about their rights. The chef plans to attend a seminar with local restaurateurs and lawyers next week to gather more information and legal advice.
He also had conversations with his family about what to do if he was taken into custody, who to call first and where to go. “All we can do right now is prepare, not feel scared. That's easier said than done.”
in washington d.c. Maketto chef and owner Erik Bruner-Yang is waiting for guidance from the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington.
“I think right now everyone is waiting to see what really happens with immigration,” he said. “Ramw was really good about providing resources. They were during the first Trump administration. To be fair, the Obama-Biden administration wasn't all that great when it came to deportations either.”
Thea Ivanovich, founder and chief operating officer of Immigrant Foods, which has a location a block from the White House, says the unintended consequences of mass deportations reach far beyond the fate of individual workers. He said it was possible.
“I think as business owners, especially in the food industry, we're completely dependent on immigrant labor and it's a trillion-dollar industry,” she said. “When they're talking about workplace attacks, I think that's very concerning.”
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