The fear of detention among customers and employees — in an industry where more than one-fifth of the nationwide workforce was born abroad — has taken a toll.
“I wake up every day thinking, ‘Should I just close and wait to see if everything settles down?’” many restaurant owners say.
The country has taken a hit from the massive raids carried out by ICE. But restaurants continue to shoulder the burden in an industry where immigrant labor is the backbone of operations.
Several restaurants in Los Angeles told Parriva about the acrobatics they’ve had to perform just to stay afloat: staff cuts, menu changes, bringing in children, cousins, and spouses — folding family into the business to avoid paying employees — and the daily exhaustion of constantly reinventing themselves.
Efraín and Ulises decided to open a street stand, Los Dos Carnales, after the restaurant where they had worked for so long closed amid the national crisis.
Guzmán Toledo opened his restaurant Basil in Orange County after years of working in the industry. It was his lifelong dream. Now, he lives day to day.
“You could say I’m in survival mode. I’m holding on as much as I can, and I’ll keep doing so until the end. But the situation for us is very bad,” he said.
In interviews over the past few weeks conducted by the New York Times, restaurant owners in several cities where ICE agents are active echoed that sentiment: their businesses are not only teetering on insolvency, they said, but feel even more vulnerable than during the pandemic.
Some of that hardship is the result of other forces that have hit restaurants hard, such as rising ingredient prices, the growing cost of food delivery, and this winter’s brutal weather. None of these businesses have been raided by ICE agents, who need a judicial warrant to enter private areas of a business, such as a kitchen or office.
But most owners said ICE has become a constant and alarming presence in their neighborhoods. The fear of detention among customers and employees — in an industry where more than one-fifth of the nationwide workforce was born abroad — has taken a toll.
That fallout is felt especially in immigrant neighborhoods targeted for ICE enforcement. In Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood, known as the “Mexico of the Midwest,” a spokesperson for the local Chamber of Commerce estimated that business sales have dropped between 50 and 70 percent since 2024.
“No one is coming out during the day because of the constant visuals of arrests and protests,” said Christina Gonzalez, who runs Los Comales, a taqueria with 19 locations in the Chicago area, including Little Village, where her business has been hit hardest. “We’ve always gotten 30 to 40 percent of our sales from foot traffic. We don’t have any foot traffic.”
When asked about the economic effects of ICE’s actions, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in an email: “Our brave law enforcement officers are delivering on President Trump’s and the American people’s mandate to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens to make America safe. Removing dangerous criminals from our streets makes it safer for everyone — including business owners and their customers.” A White House spokesperson said this week that while ICE focuses on deporting violent criminals, anyone in the country illegally is eligible for removal.
The restaurant industry continues to rebound from the pandemic. A report released this week by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that full-service restaurants added about 130,000 jobs in January.
The opposite is happening at Los Comales, whose Little Village location employed 120 people last summer. Now it has just 28, as operating hours have been reduced. The neighborhood’s restaurants depend on outside visitors, Gonzalez said, but the tense atmosphere “may push our community back 25 or 30 years, when not a single English-speaking person would come out because of fear of gang violence, or of not being served by someone who speaks English.”
With so many of her workers afraid to even leave their homes, she said, “it’s worse than the pandemic.”
Restaurants as Refuge
Even some restaurant owners facing hardship feel they are in a position to help. Many restaurants have become places of refuge at a time when ICE agents have broad authority to detain people elsewhere — at traffic stops, parks, and school parking lots.
“ICE Not Welcome Here” signs hang outside many restaurants. Immigrant-rights training sessions are common before shifts. Whistles are now part of some staff uniforms.
Santos, a restaurant worker in Austin, Texas, who asked that his last name not be published, was detained during a traffic stop on his way to work last March and sent to a detention center near the border. His boss wrote letters of support and served as a financial guarantor, offering to pay bail if necessary.
Santos, who was released last summer, said he plans to return to the restaurant soon. “I feel most comfortable with these people I know,” he said in Spanish.
As community hubs, restaurants have the power to mobilize residents in ways few other businesses can, said Diana Dávila, chef and owner of Mi Tocaya, a Mexican restaurant in Chicago. She helped organize a fundraiser last month that raised $115,000 to purchase groceries for families facing food insecurity due to ICE enforcement actions.
“Restaurants put a face to what is happening,” she said.
Workforce Contribution
Immigrants represent a substantial share of the restaurant and hospitality workforce. According to the American Immigration Council, immigrants make up 22 percent of all U.S. workers in the food services industry, including restaurants and bars. In certain states with a high concentration of independent establishments — such as California, Texas, and New York — that percentage exceeds 30 percent.
Independent restaurants, in particular, rely heavily on immigrant workers in both front-of-house and kitchen roles. Many of these smaller, community-based businesses struggle to fill key positions, and immigrant workers help bridge that gap. Without this essential labor force, the industry would struggle to meet operational demands, potentially leading to reduced service, shorter hours, or permanent closures.
