(WASHINGTON) — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted raids targeting businesses in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, sources confirmed to ABC News.
A coalition of activists had warned delivery drivers and restaurants of the planned enforcement one day prior.
“I have heard those reports, I’ve been getting them all morning. I am disturbed by them,” Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser told reporters on Tuesday. “It appears that ICE is at restaurants or even in neighborhoods, and it doesn’t look like they’re targeting criminals. It is disrupting.”
She also emphasized that the Metropolitan Police Department was not involved.
Multiple sources told ABC News that federal law enforcement officials visited dozens of restaurants, carry-out spots and bars across several neighborhoods in Washington, including U Street, 14th Street, Chinatown, Dupont Circle and Mount Vernon Triangle. The visits spanned a wide range of establishments, from fast-casual spots to fine-dining restaurants and luxury cocktail bars, reflecting the breadth of the operation.
At many restaurants, agents distributed information and pamphlets requesting to see I-9 forms to verify the identities and employment authorizations for all employees dating back to one year ago. Some restaurants were told that federal officials would return in three days. Following Tuesday’s visits, some restaurant owners chose to close preemptively.
George Escobar, chief of programs and services at CASA, an organization geared toward improving the quality of life for the working class, told ABC News on Tuesday that the organization regularly receives tips about planned raids — but that this one was different.
“This one, to be honest, alarmed us a little bit because it was really specific,” Escobar said.
The organization has run a 24-hour tip hot line since the first Trump administration.
“We’re experienced. We don’t get alarmed by, like, you know, any old threat because, you know, they’re frequent, right? And they come in all different types of forms,” he said.
However, in this instance, CASA was warned that ICE would be using President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at the “beautification” of Washington, D.C., to justify the raids, Escobar said.
“We received notice about a specific kind of operation on how they were going to be conducted: what the pretense of maybe entering some of these small businesses were going to be, the fact that they were looking specifically at food businesses and possibly delivery workers,” he explained.
ABC News reached out to the Department of Homeland Security and ICE for comment but did not receive a response.
“If ICE wants to snatch up every single immigrant working in food service and delivery, then the entire industry will collapse,” Amy Fischer, a core organizer with Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network, which supports migrants arriving in the capital, said in a statement.
The Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington, which represents the more than 60,000 restaurant workers in the area, said in a statement shared with ABC News that it is “deeply concerned” by the reports of ICE raids and drop-ins across Washington, D.C.
RAMW said it urges “policymakers on a local and federal level to consider the real-world impact on local businesses and communities.”
“Immigrants make up a significant portion of our workforce at all levels. From dishwashers to executive chefs to restaurant owners, immigrants are irreplaceable contributors to our most celebrated restaurants and beloved neighborhood establishments,” it added. “The immigrant workforce has been essential to sustaining and growing our local restaurant industry and has been a major contributor to our local economy.
“At a time when our economy is already fragile, losing even one staff member at a single establishment has a profound impact on the operations of a restaurant and its ability to serve patrons,” RAMW added. “Disrupting restaurant staffing across the industry can create a damaging ripple effect felt immediately throughout the entire local economy.”
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