The first two cold months of the year are usually a peak business period for Teddy's red tacos, where diners give themselves to the restaurant specialty, Birria: spicy meat, warm and deeply tender steep steep slowly in their own fat and served with A tasty broth group.
But this year, it is different.
The day after President Trump announced a series of immigration actions to meet a massive deportation campaign promise, Teddy Vázquez, owner of Teddy's Red Tacos, noticed a strong fall in sales in all his 10 locations in Los Angeles and County Orange.
Two weeks later, sales had fallen by half of what it would normally do in January.
“People are afraid to leave. There is no movement. There are no people who come to eat, ”said Vázquez. “People don't want to leave because they don't know what will happen to this administration.”
Vázquez said that most of his taco stores, from Echo Park to Anaheim, are in neighborhoods with a large proportion of immigrant inhabitants.
In the location of Venice of the Red Tacos of Teddy, where Birria is one of the popular dishes that customers order.
(Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)
“Many people who support Teddy's are immigrants,” he said. “Customers are thinking: 'What happens if Ice [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] It appears while I am eating in Teddy's? “
Vázquez is not alone.
It is one of several people in the food service industry, from restorers to house workers, who are preparing for the repression of immigration of the Trump administration. Of an estimate of 8.3 million workers without legal status who work in the USA, approximately 1 million have jobs in the restaurant industry, according to the Migration Studies CenterA group of international migration experts in New York.
Several restaurateurs are struggling to create plans in case the ice descends in their businesses. Managers are calling staff meetings to inform workers of their constitutional rights. The owners circulate red cards to their restaurant personnel advising them that “no question” if an immigration agent is addressed.
At the same time, several food service workers reported that they stopped leading to work and, on the other hand, are taking balles to avoid being arrested. A line cook said he no longer leaves his home in Santa Ana, except for work. A dishwasher in the San Gabriel Valley wrote an email to his employer, confessing that he was in the country without legal status and asking his boss if he could help him sponsor him for a “work permit.”
“It is known that there are millions of undocumented immigrants in this country, I am one more of them,” wrote the dishwasher. “When I started working with you almost 2 years ago, I never thought I would tell you this, and I apologize if this can cause you problems later or in the future.”
With a loss why do, the restaurant owner, who did not want to be identified because he is afraid to be attacked by ICE, called Kim Luu-Ng, an immigration lawyer who, with her husband, Bryant NG, also operates Cassia, the Famous Restaurant of Santa Monica that is closing on February 22 after being a regular presence in the 101 best restaurants in this newspaper in Los Angeles and the winner of the La Times Gold 2019 award.
Immigration Lawyer Kim Luu-Ng, right, with her husband, chef Bryant Ng. Together they are owners of Santa Mónica Cassia restaurant, which is closing on February 22.
(Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)
Luu-NG met with the worker, a Mexican citizen of about 20 years who has a young citizen. He entered the USA four years ago without undergoing a formal inspection process on the border. He asked the worker a series of questions to determine if there was a way to qualify for legal status.
There was none.
“Although he has a very supportive employer, who is anxious and is willing to sponsor him, unfortunately, that cannot happen in this situation,” he said, “his employer cannot sponsor it. Unfortunately, there is nothing that he can do for You at this time. “
Luu-NG said he received several calls in the last weeks of the owners of restaurants and workers anxious for the pending immigration application actions.
There are reasons to worry, said Luu-Ng.
Restaurants, coffee shops and bars are “super easy objectives” for immigration raids, he said, because there are many of them. In addition, ice agents can legally enter the public areas of a business, such as a dining room or waiting room for a restaurant without explicit permission.
“It provides good optics for the Trump administration,” he added.
ICE agents cannot legally enter private areas without permission or an order signed by a state or federal judge. These private areas include background rooms, kitchens, offices or other areas of a company that are generally not open to the public.
Sometimes, ICE agents present administrative orders with the “Department of National Security of the United States” as evidence of their permission to enter private areas, but does not give agents the right to enter private areas without The consent of an authorized employer.
“Many times people do not know their rights and people simply let them in,” Luu-Ng said.
William Martel, a food corridor from El Salvador, recently lost his work when his restaurant caught fire in Los Angeles fires last month. The 55 -year -old has tried without success to find a new job closer to his home in a very immigrant neighborhood.
“There is no one in restaurants. There are no people in stores, ”he said. “Then no one is hiring new workers.”
Vázquez de Teddy's Red Tacos said he has received multiple calls from employees who ask him questions about what they should ask if they are arrested on their way to work.
Some are so scared that they are taking Uber to work.
Vázquez said he cares about his workers and also for the decline in business.
“I have to cover my invoices and my payroll,” he said. “If things continue to be, unfortunately, I will have to reduce people's hours and maybe close some places, or I will not be able to pay the rent.”
The Inn Reel that was lost in the fire of Palisades.
(Silvia Razgova / for the times)
Over the years, mainly in the late 1980s and early nineties, Andy and Teddy Leonard sponsors around a dozen employees in Reel Inn to become legal residents. It was easier to do at that time, but immigration laws and policies have changed, with more strict eligibility requirements now.
Several of these employees set their legal status and still worked in the iconic seafood place in Malibu until they burned on January 7 in the Palisades fire. Teddy Leonard said that most of his employees were Oaxaca immigrants.
“I have not had an American child who says he wants bus tables,” he said.
A couple of weeks ago, the Leonards organized lunch for their 23 Reel Inn employees. Although there is no longer a restaurant, Teddy Leonard said that she was still forced to help protect her workers and distributed “know their rights” cards provided by the coalition for the rights of human immigrants in Los Angeles. He also passed out the flyers that detail “5 things to do if the ice tries to enter his house or vehicle.”
“These sweeps could take away the workforce,” said Teddy Leonard. “It will close many restaurants.”
Reyna, cook in a restaurant in Santa Ana, said she first moved to the United States more than 20 years ago. The 40 -year -old woman, who is in the country without legal status, did not want to give him the full name because he fears that immigration officials to attack her. Current immigration laws and policies do not provide a form, he said, to legalize their status.
Even so, she has built a life here and began a family with her husband and six children, who are American citizens, including an 18 -month -old boy, a 3 -year -old boy and a 6 -year -old boy who is autistic.
Since Trump's inauguration, the world of Reyna has become smaller.
In recent weeks, it has been clinging to its children to the park. Catholic devout, has stopped attending the Mass. He no longer collects or leaves his children from school. She doesn't buy groceries
Instead, his adult children, particularly his 21 -year -old son and teenage daughter, are assuming those tasks.
“I'm just going to work and return home,” he said about his daily routine.
On Sundays, she and her family had a tradition of dinner in a local restaurant in Santa Ana. No more.
She tries to put a good face to protect her children.
“Don't worry,” he tells them. “In addition to coming here illegally, I have never committed a crime.”
Even so, anxiety prevents your teenage daughter from sleeping full night.
Recently, their adult children installed a ring camera so they can monitor who comes to the door, in case they are immigration agents.
Reyna believes that the camera is a bit too much.
But at the same time, you are preparing the preparations for what will happen with your children, in case it is deported.
“Honestly,” he said, “this fear is killing me.”
