Foggy Bottom restaurants are coordinating staff training sessions to prepare for potential Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids after officers issued 187 inspection notices at D.C. businesses and arrested 189 alleged undocumented individuals earlier this month.
Immigration officers visited 187 D.C.-area businesses with I-9 inspection notices, which ask managers to provide proof of employees’ eligibility to work in the United States, and arrested 189 undocumented immigrants with alleged history of criminal conviction and gang affiliation during an “enhanced targeted” operation from May 6 to 9. Foggy Bottom restaurant managers said they are briefing their staff on how to respond if immigration officers arrive, though they said this hasn’t yet happened at any Foggy Bottom eateries.
President Donald Trump signed the “Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful” executive order on March 28, which directed federal, state and local law enforcement to conduct “maximum enforcement” of federal immigration law in D.C.
The order also directed law enforcement to “monitor” the District’s status as a “sanctuary-city,” which the American Immigration Council said usually refers to a city that restricts cooperation between local officials and federal immigration authorities and aims to reduce deportations of undocumented immigrants.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said in February using the term “sanctuary city” in the context of the District was “misleading” because anyone “violating immigration laws” is “vulnerable” to enforcement.
ICE agents visited Lauriol Plaza and Pupatella in Dupont Circle on May 6.
Iridian Solano, the manager of Bullfrog Bagels in Western Market, said the news of ICE raiding other local restaurants in D.C. was “very scary” and has made her staff, many of whom are immigrants, “uncomfortable.”
“It’s scary for everybody because if the ICE got you, you never know if you’re gonna see your family again, your friends or anything,” Solano said.
Solano said when she heard the news that ICE was visiting local businesses in D.C., she advised her staff not to speak to immigration agents if they visited her establishment.
“I was talking last week about if ICE came or anything happened, you don’t have to say anything,” Solano said. “Like you don’t have to say, ‘Oh, I’m a citizen’ or ‘I don’t have papers.’”
Bowser at a gathering with the D.C. Democratic Party on Thursday told attendees that migrants fearing raids “should be afraid” because there’s “nothing” she can do about a president whose focus is to “terrorize them,” per a Washington Post report.
“This is Donald Trump’s America,” Bowser said.
Anastasia Kochnowicz, the manager of Tonic, said restaurant owners in D.C. are “very connected” and have been communicating with each other about ICE activities across D.C. in a group chat to inform each other which restaurants have been visited.
“Luckily, overall, the restaurant industry is very connected. So you know everyone. Everyone knows everyone,” Kochnowicz said. “So there’s a lot of just like, ‘Hey, this was hit today, this was hit today,’ just kind of knowing where those things are happening.”
Kochnowicz said she informed staff of their rights and responsibilities to produce certain documents upon request and procedural definitions, like the difference between a judiciary and civil warrant from the Department of Homeland Security.
A judiciary warrant — signed by a judge — requires probable cause and authorizes searches of private properties whose occupants have a “reasonable expectation of privacy.” A civil warrant — not signed by a judge — authorizes ICE to arrest someone in a place without a reasonable expectation of privacy, like a sidewalk or park.
“We make sure all of our staff knows what to do if agents show up, knowing the difference between the judiciary warrants and a civil warrant essentially from Homeland Security itself,” Kochnowicz said. “Knowing the differences between those and knowing what they can and can’t do if they have a warrant or not.”
Kochnowicz said ICE agents have not served a notice of inspection to Tonic, but if they do, she said the restaurants do not have to immediately produce their I-9 records. Restaurant owners have at least three business days to produce I-9 forms upon receiving an ICE inspection notice, and if they fail to comply, they may be fined or criminally prosecuted, depending on charges, according to an ICE fact sheet.
Kochnowicz said she informed staff not to run or panic if ICE agents visit and instead head to employees-only spaces in the establishment, where she said agents cannot enter without a warrant.
Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid, an immigration advocacy group based in D.C., formed in 2022 to support migrant arrivals in the District after Texas Governor Greg Abbott transported at least 12,500 undocumented people to D.C. from Texas between 2022 and 2024. The organization began operating an ICE hotline in January providing information on resources to people concerned about anyone “taken” by ICE and allowing people to report ICE activity. Flyers for the hotline contain additional warnings not to open doors for officers, to remain silent and not to sign “anything.”
MSMA said in a statement on Instagram the recent restaurant visits are an “extension” of Trump’s executive order, and Democrats and Bowser’s “weak” leadership have allowed the inspections to continue “unchecked.” They said “federal overreach” indicates the District’s autonomy is “at risk.”
David Beltran, the manager of Alitko in Western Market, said he reassured staff that he would “have their back” and respond to ICE officers on their behalf since he was “born here.”
“I feel a little bit more comfortable rather than them speaking,” Beltran said. “But point blank, I would not even let them even step inside the building.”
Beltran said if officers “take” his staff, he would have a difficult time replacing them. He said that would likely be the case for most restaurants in Western Market because for “not only” Alitko but “all” restaurants, the “majority” of workers are Hispanic.
Ninety-eight thousand foreign-born residents in D.C. make up 14.7 percent of its population, according to the American Immigration Council. The Pew Research Center in 2022 — before Abbott began sending migrants — found more than 25,000 undocumented migrants lived in D.C.
ICE officials did not respond to a request for comment about if ICE visited in the Foggy Bottom and West End area during or since the enforcement spree, why they targeted certain areas or what caused officials to visit and serve inspection paperwork now.
Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington President Shawn Townsend told the Washington Examiner the association is “deeply concerned” about “reported raids and drop-ins.”
Townsend told the Washington Post he sent a letter to the DHS asking what criteria the agency used and whether the restaurant community should expect future visits.
Townsend said in an interview on Jan. 30 with American University Radio that undocumented migrants make up a “significant portion” of the District’s restaurant workforce “at all levels.”
“Losing just even one staff member to deportation would have an impact on the operation of a small business, a small restaurant,” Townsend said.
Jorge Perez, regional manager of Arepa Zone, including its location in Western Market, said he’s in an “uncomfortable moment” with his staff because of recent ICE activity. Perez said Arepa Zone has not been subject to any enforcement actions, but reports on social media and in the news have led him to prepare staff for audits anyway.
He said he trained staff on how to handle ICE by explaining that agents must have a signed order from a judge to enter the premises, and he provided “red cards” explaining their rights to staff.
The Immigrant Legal Resource Center created “red cards” — containing information about what rights immigrants have in the United States and the exact phrases best suited to assert them in 2007.
“They don’t care about if you have documents,” Perez said.
Ella Mitchell contributed reporting.
