More than 100 workers have been terminated or left their jobs since Feb. 12, and many more could follow, immigration lawyers say.
The co-owner of a downtown D.C. restaurant saw the letter from Homeland Security Investigations on Friday, Feb. 13, the eve of Valentine's Day, one of the busiest dining holidays of the year. HSI, the primary investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security, notified the restaurant that 32 of its 46 employees "appear unauthorized to work in the United States," according to a copy of the letter reviewed by The Washington Post.
The proprietor knew the notice had the potential to severely disrupt his business, perhaps requiring him to scale back his menu, pull managers away from their regular duties to act as servers, or work on the kitchen line himself. So he didn't tell his staff about the letter until the following Monday. "I'm trying to fight for as many as I can," the restaurateur said a few days after receiving the notice. Like other owners, he spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of putting his business and workers at further risk.
On Tuesday, Feb. 24, 11 days after receiving the HSI letter, the co-owner tallied his losses: 29 employees -- line cooks, prep cooks, bartenders, servers, managers -- sent him messages to say they would no longer be working at his well-regarded restaurant. As he spoke on the phone, a manager in the background was arranging interviews in a mad dash for replacements in an industry that has long struggled with labor shortages.
Similar scenes were playing out at other restaurants in Washington, where at least six other establishments also received "notice of suspect documents" letters from HSI in mid-February. The Post confirmed that at least 131 employees at five restaurants have left their jobs or been terminated because of the letters, according to owners or their attorneys.
Immigration lawyers say restaurateurs should brace for much worse.
In May, DHS agents requested I-9 paperwork from nearly 190 businesses in D.C., almost all of which were restaurants, immigration lawyers say. Some agents arrived at the restaurants in tactical gear and bearing guns to deliver inspection notices that immigration lawyers say can be sent via mail or email. It has taken HSI auditors nine months to review the provided I-9 documents -- a basic form and supporting documents to prove a worker's identity and employment eligibility -- to determine whether a restaurant's employees are authorized to work in the country. The first batch of letters went out on Feb. 12. They probably won't be the last, said Becki Young, managing partner and immigration lawyer at Grossman Young & Hammond, a firm that represents three D.C. restaurants that received letters.
"I think everybody's going to get one eventually," Young told The Post in an interview. "I think that it's a rare restaurant that doesn't have a single person on their roster with questionable documents."
DHS confirmed in a statement to The Post that I-9 inspection investigations are ongoing. The agency did not respond to questions about how many "notice of suspect documents" letters it has sent.
"The employment of illegal aliens incentivizes dangerous and illegal practices, including social security fraud," the department said in the statement. "As we saw during a recent worksite operation in Nebraska, many illegal aliens use stolen social security numbers and identities to unlawfully obtain wages, health benefits and employment authorization. Behind every stolen social security number uncovered [in] these operations is a real American -- mothers, fathers, students, and disabled workers -- now facing devastating financial, emotional, and legal fallout."
Immigration lawyers say I-9 paperwork audits are on the rise nationwide, but until the HSI letters started arriving last month, they had not seen any enforcement actions specifically against the restaurant industry. Restaurants in other cities may start seeing letters, too, they say.
The worker exodus comes at a tough time for restaurants in the nation's capital. Besides the inflationary pressures that have affected the entire industry, D.C. restaurants have had to contend with issues all their own: The region lost more than 72,000 federal jobs last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Thousands of National Guard troops have roamed Washington since a federal takeover of D.C. police last summer, and the troops are expected to stay through 2026. Based on foot traffic, forecasts and other metrics, tourism declined in part because of the Guard's presence and because of the overblown perception, often fueled by past White House statements, that Washington is crime-ridden. The city suffered through the longest government shutdown in U.S. history last year. All of these actions have impacted restaurant sales and reservations.
The administration's crackdown on undocumented immigrants could further affect restaurant bottom lines. Proprietors have 10 business days to answer HSI's letters. In their responses, owners could inform the agency that the targeted workers have been terminated -- or left on their own -- or provide updated paperwork to prove the employees are authorized to work. If the restaurant continues to employ unauthorized workers after their response, owners could face civil penalties as high $5,724 per person for a first violation and rising from there, according to the HSI letter.
In the past, these fines could be negotiated down with HSI lawyers to ensure the penalties don't place a financial burden on restaurants or put them out of business, said Mary Pivec, a lawyer at Grossman Young & Hammond who specializes in immigration compliance and worksite enforcement. "That seems less likely now," Pivec said in an email to The Post.
But more than fines, restaurants could lose a sizable percentage of their staff. One D.C. restaurant lost 68 percent of its workers after receiving the HSI letter and another lost 63 percent, according to owners or attorneys of the targeted businesses. But some establishments have shed smaller fractions: One restaurant lost 15 percent of its workers; another lost 35 percent. These percentages don't take into account the workers who left the four restaurants after the initial DHS visits in May.
The losses could be catastrophic for restaurants, immigration lawyers said. "It's not like when those workers left that there were U.S. workers lining up to take those jobs," said Young. "So it is an existential threat for most of those restaurants."
The Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington, an industry trade association, said in a statement to The Post that the D.C. "restaurant industry is at a turning point. Many of the region's most celebrated restaurants -- from those helmed by local celebrity chefs to neighborhood culinary gems -- were founded by immigrants and first-generation Americans who have and continue to enrich the region's culinary landscape and economy."
The statement continued: "As federal immigration policy continues to evolve, many restaurant workers and owners are currently facing challenges that affect both individual establishments and the broader dining ecosystem. These changes impact everything from daily operations to the diversity that defines our region's restaurant industry. The restaurant industry needs predictable policies that allow for proper business planning and treat every member of the community with dignity."
Since losing 29 employees, the downtown Washington restaurant has found ways to cope. The timing of the HSI audit was somewhat fortunate, the co-owner told The Post, saying that aside from the Valentine's Day crush, February is a slow month in D.C. The restaurant had only 30 guests for dinner this past Wednesday compared with the 200 it sees on a busy night. Still, the co-owner’s business partner had to chop vegetables in a basement kitchen to cover for prep cooks who are now gone.
But the restaurant has also been able to hire 17 replacement workers, the co-owner said. His success at finding new staff, he said, has been largely a result of referrals from former employees—a luxury other establishments may not have.
Like other proprietors in D.C., the co-owner is deciding whether to enroll in E-Verify, a DHS website that takes I-9 information submitted by companies and compares it against government records to confirm that an employee is authorized to work in the country. But he knows the website isn't foolproof: It once listed his business partner as unauthorized to work years after his naturalization ceremony.