On Tuesday, DC, DC, DC, the Immigration and Customs Control made raids aimed at business in Washington, DC.
A coalition of activists had warned the delivery drivers and restaurants of the planned application one day before.
“I have heard those reports, I have been receiving them all morning. I am disturbed by them,” said DC Mayor Muriel Bowser a journalists on Tuesday. “It seems that ICE is in restaurants or even in neighborhoods, and it does not seem that they are pointing to criminals. He is interrupting.”
He also emphasized that the Metropolitan Police Department was not involved.
A seal of the National Security Department on a podium at the Headquarters of Immigration and Customs Control (ICE), March 13, 2024.
Luke Barr/ABC News
George Escobar, head of programs and services at home, an organization aimed at improving the quality of life of working -class Americans, told ABC News on Tuesday that the organization regularly receives advice on planned raids, but this was different.
“This, to be honest, alarmed us a little, because it was really specific,” Escobar told ABC News.
The organization has executed a 24 -hour tip line from the first Trump administration.
“We have experience. We do not alarm, as you know, any ancient threat, because, you know, they are frequent, right? And they come in different types of different forms,” he said.
However, in this case, he was noticed home that ICE would be using President Donald Trump’s Executive order aimed at “beautification” of the capital of the United States To justify the raids, said Escobar.
“We received a notice about a specific type of operation on how they were going to carry out: what perhaps entered some of these small businesses were going to be, the fact that the food companies and possibly delivery workers were specifically looking for,” he explained.
ABC News contacted the Department of National Security and ICE to comment, but has not yet received an answer.
“If Ice wants to snatch all immigrants who work in food service and delivery, then the entire industry will collapse,” Amy Fischer said a central organizer with mutual help of migrant solidarity, which supports migrants who arrive in the capital, in a statement.
The Washington Metropolitan Restaurants Association, which represents the more than 60,000 restaurant workers in the area, said in a statement shared with ABC News that was “deeply worried” by the reports of ice raids and drops in Washington, DC.
Ramw said that he urges “policy formulators at the local and federal level to consider the impact of the real world on local companies and communities.”
“Immigrants constitute a significant portion of our workforce at all levels. From dishwasher to executive chefs and restaurant owners, immigrants contribute irreplaceable to our most famous restaurants and dear neighboring establishments,” the statement said. “Immigrant workforce has been essential to maintain and cultivate our local restaurant industry and has been an important taxpayer to our local economy.”
“At a time when our economy is already fragile, losing even a staff member in a single establishment has a deep impact on the operations of a restaurant and its ability to serve customers, added Ramw.” The interruption of restaurant staff throughout the industry can create a harmful wave effect immediately throughout the complete local economy. “
