Last May, federal immigration agents visited more than 100 DC-area businesses, including many restaurants, seeking I-9 forms verifying employment eligibility. But it wasn’t until last week that it least some of those businesses heard back from Homeland Security Investigations. Now, they must fire employees who were flagged or prove within 10 business days that they are legally allowed to work in the US.
“I’ve already spent $17,000 on lawyers to deal with ICE for me,” says one restaurant owner, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of government retribution. “And then I got an email last week to my attorneys saying, basically, we need to let go over two-thirds of our staff.”
Just because the I-9 forms were rejected does not necessarily mean that the workers are undocumented. It could simply mean the paperwork had some other error. The restaurant owner says he sponsored and paid for a visa for one chef who was on the list, “so we know he’s legal.” And as far as he was aware, all his employees were legal. “They produced the information needed. I wouldn’t have submitted it to ICE had I thought it was illegal,” he says. “I’m going to try and prove as many of them right as I can.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security says their investigations into DC business are ongoing. They did not respond to a question about how many businesses were bring actively investigated.
“The employment of illegal aliens incentivizes dangerous and illegal practices, including social security fraud,” the DHS statement reads. “As we saw during a recent worksite operation in Nebraska, many illegal aliens use stolen social security numbers and identities to unlawfully obtain wages, health benefits and employment authorization. Behind every stolen social security number uncovered these operations is a real American—mothers, fathers, students, and disabled workers—now facing devastating financial, emotional, and legal fallout. President Trump and Secretary Noem are protecting American businesses and workers by enforcing our nation’s laws.”
A letter from HSI to businesses says that employers who continue to employ individuals who are not authorized to work in the US may face fines ranging from $716 to $5,724 per worker for a first time violation.
Another restaurateur who was also audited last May says that HSI flagged five of his employees—only one of whom still works at the restaurant. He believes that person is in fact authorized to work, so the restaurateur has been reaching out to immigration attorneys to help. He also followed up with some of his former employees and learned that at least a couple of them had their work authorizations revoked by the Trump administration within the last year.
“It’s scary, for sure. We do everything by the book to our knowledge,” he says.
Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington president Shawn Townsend says he’s heard from 5 to 10 restaurants who’ve been contacted by HSI over the past week.
“This is once again another plight on the industry at a time when we need as many people working as we possibly can,” Townsend says. “The immigrant community, of course, is the backbone of a lot of kitchens and a lot of staff.”
The past year has been a tough one for DC restaurants with mass federal layoffs hitting their customer base, tariffs, a drop in tourism, a lengthy government shutdown, and of course, a sweeping immigration crackdown.
“I’ve had three [employees] taken off the streets. I’ve had wives sitting here crying. One guy that got snatched, he was my dad’s age. The guy worked every single day and worked his ass off,” says the restaurant owner who had two-thirds of his staff targeted by HSI.” They’re not MS-13. They’re not criminals. They’re not the people that they’re claiming they are. It’s really disgusting that my beautiful neighbors and my beautiful people here are being treated like this.”
This story has been updated with a statement from DHS.
Jessica Sidman covers the people and trends behind DC’s food and drink scene. Before joining Washingtonian in July 2016, she was Food Editor and Young & Hungry columnist at Washington City Paper. She is a Colorado native and University of Pennsylvania grad.
