DEPORTATIONS
Deportations leave a mark on foodservice
Uncertainty for migrant communities in the US is having a significant impact on a foodservice sector that is already facing recruitment and financial challenges, as Andrea Tolu outlines
S
ince President Trump’s administration took office in January 2025, the
activity of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has dramatically increased. During the first eight
months of the year, ICE deported nearly 200,000 people. Including deportations by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Coast Guard, and voluntary departures, the total reaches nearly 350,000. By the end of fiscal year 2025 (30 September), ICE deportations alone are estimated to surpass 300,000 – the highest figure in a decade.
Te number of arrests by ICE and CBP also surged, reaching 228,000 by the end of September. Te detention of individuals with no criminal records went from being the minority to surpassing those with criminal records or pending charges.
Te intensified enforcement
is affecting the foodservice industry. Foreign-born individuals make up 17% of all US employees, but more than 20% of restaurant and foodservice workers, an estimated one million of whom are undocumented, according to the Center for Migration Studies of New York.
FEAR AND UNCERTAINTY
Tracy Chang, owner of Pagu, a tapas restaurant in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that blends Western and Eastern cuisines, says the current climate is “quite jarring to our industry overall, because it instils fear in the immigrant community and even in non-immigrants”. ICE workplace raids
are a major source of that uncertainty and anxiety. While these typically represent a small fraction of its enforcement activity – the agency has increasingly focused on border removals over the past years –
detentions widely shared on news and social media have amplified fears. Chang recalls one recent
case that shook the local >
“The enforcement is affecting the foodservice industry. Foreign-born people make up 17% of all US employees but more than 20% of restaurant and foodservice workers, an estimated one million of whom are undocumented”
Above: Tracy Chang of Pagu restaurant in Cambridge, MA
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THE AMERICAS
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