The chilly first two months of the year are usually peak business periods for teddy red tacos. There, a restaurant specialist, Villia diner will slowly simmer the warm, tender, tender meat, served with a pool of flavorful soups. .
But this year is different.
A day after President Trump announced a series of immigration actions to fulfill his promise of a massive deportation campaign, Teddy Vasquez, owner of Teddy Red Taco, has sold all 10 locations in Los Angeles and Orange County. I noticed that it had dropped sharply.
Two weeks later, half of what he normally does in January fell.
“People are afraid to go out. There’s no movement. No one comes to eat,” Vazquez said. “People don’t want to go out because they don’t know what’s going to happen in this administration.”
Vazquez said most of his taco shops, from Echo Park to Anaheim, are in neighborhoods with a large portion of immigrant residents.
At the Venice location of Teddy’s Red Tacos, Villia is one of the popular dishes customers order.
(Mariah Tauger/Los Angeles Times)
“Many people who support Teddy are immigrants,” he said. “The customer is thinking: “If there’s ice [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] Does it appear during teddy’s meal? ”
Vasquez isn’t alone.
He is one of several people in the food service industry, from restaurateurs to home workers, who are enduring the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Of the estimated 8.3 million workers employed in the US without legal status, about 1 million people work in the restaurant industry, according to the Center for Immigration Research, an international immigration think tank in New York.
Some restaurateurs are in a hurry to come up with plans in case the ice falls into their business. Managers are calling staff meetings to inform workers of their constitutional rights. The owner distributes red cards to restaurant staff and advises them to “not answer questions” if approached by immigration agents.
At the same time, several foodservice workers reported that they were taking a share of the ride to avoid stopping driving to work and being pulled instead. Linecook said he won’t leave Santa Ana again except for work. The San Gabriel Valley dishwasher writes an email to his employer, confesses that he was in the country without legal status, and asks his boss if he can help sponsor him for a “work permit.” I did.
“It is known that there are millions of undocumented immigrants in this country. I’m one more,” the dishwasher wrote. “When I started working with you almost two years ago, I didn’t think I would tell you this.
Losing what to do and the owner of the restaurant – he didn’t want to be identified because he was afraid of being targeted by ice – her husband, Bryant NG, is the immigration lawyer running Cassia The famous Santa Monica restaurant, called Kim Lou Nag, will be closed on February 22nd after being regularly present at the 101 best restaurants on the Los Angeles list and the 2019 LA Times Gold Award winner.
Immigration lawyer Kim Lung, right with her husband, Bryant Ng. They own a Santa Monica restaurant Cassia together.
(Mariah Tauger/Los Angeles Times)
Luu-ng met with a worker who is a Mexican national in his 20s. He entered the United States four years ago without undergoing a formal testing process at the border. She asked the workers a series of questions to determine if there was a way for him to qualify for legal status.
There was nothing.
“You have a very supportive employer, but unfortunately, it’s impossible to happen in this situation, and I’m eager to sponsor you,” she told him. Unfortunately, there’s nothing I can do for you at this point. ”
Luu-ng said he received several calls in the last few weeks from restaurant owners and workers worried about putting immigrant enforcement action on hold.
There’s a reason to worry, Lu Nag said.
Restaurants, cafes and bars are “very easy targets” for immigrant raids, she said. ICE agents can also legally enter public areas of business, such as dining rooms and restaurant waiting rooms, without express permission.
“It provides the Trump administration with excellent optics,” she added.
ICE agents may not legally enter private areas without permission or warrant signed by a state or federal judge. These private areas include backrooms, kitchens, offices, or other areas of business that are generally not open to the public.
ICE agents may present administrative warrants in the headline “U.S. Department of Homeland Security,” but there is evidence of permission to enter the private area, but enter the private area without the consent of an approved employer. We will not provide rights to our agents.
“In many cases, people didn’t know their rights and people just put them in,” Luu-ng said.
William Martell, a food runner from El Salvador, recently lost his job when a restaurant burned out at Liars last month. The 55-year-old failed to find a new job near his home in a large immigrant neighborhood.
“There’s no one in the restaurant. There’s no one in the shop,” he said. “That’s why no one is hiring new workers.”
Vazquez, Teddy’s red taco, said he made multiple calls from employees asking what to do if he was pulled towards work.
Some are so scary that they are taking Uber to work.
Vazquez said he was worried about his workers and again reduced business.
“We need to cover our bills and pay,” he said. “Unfortunately, if things continue to turn out like this, I’ll need to cut down on people’s time and maybe some places to close, or I won’t be able to pay the rent.”
A reel-in lost on the Palisade fire.
(Silvia Razgova / for the Times)
Over the years, mostly in the late 1980s and early 1990s – Andy and Teddy Leonard became legal residents for the 12 employees of the Reel Inn. It was easy at the time, but immigration laws and policies have changed, with stricter eligibility requirements in place.
Several of these employees worked at Malibu’s iconic seafood spots until they revised their legal status and burned down in the Palisade fire on January 7th. Teddy Leonard said most of her employees were immigrants from Oaxaca.
“I didn’t have a single American kid who said he wanted to do a bus table,” she said.
A few weeks ago, Leonards held a lunch for 23 reel-in employees. Although there are no longer restaurants, Teddy Leonard feels that she is still forced to help protect workers, and that she has “your rights” offered by the coalition for humanitarian immigration rights in Los Angeles “I know what you’re saying you’ve handed out the cards. She also handed out flyers detailing “Five Things You Should Do if Ice is about to enter your home or car.”
“These sweeps can take away the labor force,” Teddy Leonard said. “We’re closing many restaurants.”
Reina, who cooked at a restaurant in Santa Ana, said she first moved to the US over 20 years ago. The 40-year-old, who is in a country without legal status, did not want to give her full name because she was worried that she would become a target for immigrant staff. Current immigration laws and policies do not provide her with a way to legalize her status, she said.
Still, she built her life here and started a family with her husband and six children. This is a US citizen, including 18 months old, 3 year old and 6 year old children with autism.
Since Trump took office, Reina’s world has been smaller.
Over the past few weeks, she has taken her kids to the park. A devout Catholic, she stopped attending Mass. She no longer stops picking up her children from school. She doesn’t shop for groceries
Instead, her adult children, especially her 21-year-old son and teenage daughter, take on those jobs.
“I just go to work and go home,” she said of her daily routine.
On Sunday, she and her family had a dining tradition at a local restaurant in Santa Ana. There’s no more.
She tries to make a good look to protect her child.
“Don’t worry,” she says. “I have never committed a crime other than coming here illegally.”
Still, anxiety keeps her teenage daughter from sleeping overnight.
Recently, her adult children have installed ring cameras so they can monitor who will come to the door just in case they are immigration agents.
Reina believes she has a little more cameras.
But at the same time, she is preparing for what will happen to her children in case she is deported.
“To be honest,” she said, “this terror is killing me.”
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