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Anxiety in DC kitchens over possibility of ICE enforcement in restaurants

Few restaurant owners are speaking out, but several kitchens around the D.C. region are filled with anxiety over the Trump administration’s stepped up enforcement of immigration policies.

Rumors about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids at schools and restaurants around the area have, to this point, not been substantiated.

But industry leaders said it’s yet another concern that restaurant operators are trying to deal with during one of the slower periods that businesses face.

Featured prominently on the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington‘s homepage is a link to a page that focuses just on immigration and what restaurants need to know. It includes information not just about what should happen if an ICE agent does show up, but some of the administrative preparations that restaurants should be thinking about too.

In fact, a lot of that was the topic of a webinar between the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington and several members on Wednesday.

“We talked about preparing for possible increases in I-9 and Department of Labor audits,” said Shawn Townsend, the president of the association. “We talked about understanding employment law compliance under the new administration. We really are focused on trying to equip our operators with all of the tools necessary.”

Townsend said understanding rights is a big thing. ICE agents can be turned away from a restaurant unless they can present a warrant signed by a judge.

But Townsend also said whenever an operator is uncertain about where things stand, they should seek out help from a lawyer.

“Restaurant operators that I’ve talked to, they want to comply with the law,” he said. But at the same time, “They’re ensuring that their employees in front of, back of house — they want to make sure that they feel safe and are supported at the same time.”

He added that many workers who are fearful of being detained are law-abiding citizens.

“Honestly, some of our chefs, some of our operators are in the position where they are concerned about being detained themselves. And so this is not just an impact of workers. We have some award-winning chefs who are in the same boat.”

Townsend said the restaurant association is constantly updating its webpage with new information that aims to help those in the industry comply with the law.

“We just want to make sure that restaurateurs are equipped with the information, knowing how to handle different scenarios and different situations when interacting with someone from the federal government or just law enforcement in general,” he said.

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John Domen

John started working at WTOP in 2016 after having grown up in Maryland listening to the station as a child. While he got his on-air start at small stations in Pennsylvania and Delaware, he's spent most of his career in the D.C. area, having been heard on several local stations before coming to WTOP.

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