Local immigration advocates are telling restaurant industry workers to know their rights and have a plan in place following rumors of a potential mass immigration enforcement operation in D.C. this week.
“They need to prepare, that means they need to be ready for anything that happens,” said Abel Nunez, the executive director of the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN).
“Sunday, we started to hear some warnings, some very specific warnings about certain types of industries to be targeted by ICE enforcement…” said George Escobar, the chief of programs and services at CASA. “Warnings of food businesses and food delivery workers being targeted for a concentrated immigration enforcement activity that was going to require a lot of logistics, that was going to require a lot of field personnel from potentially even multiple agencies… So there was, it was specific enough for us to really use it as an opportunity to, again, alert our community.”
Now they’re trying to spread the word about what to remember if approached by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“They need to understand and they need to put a plan in place if they happen to get caught in any operation,” Nunez said.
Nunez said many of their clients have been living with anxiety and fear for months. This latest rumor has furthered those feelings.
“We’ve been trying to inform everyone… that we got knowledge of an operation so that people can do what they feel they need to do for themselves and their family,” he said.
Monday, the union UNITE HERE Local 25, which represents thousands of restaurant, hotel, construction and food service workers also reminded members about their rights in the event ICE visits a D.C. restaurant or work site in the next couple days, stressing that no matter what their immigration status is, all workers have the right to remain silent, speak to an attorney if detained and not sign anything.
“We always tell them, do not sign anything that they don’t understand or that a lawyer hasn’t seen because it could have dire consequences for their ability to stay in this country,” Nunez said.
“Knowing your rights is really… can make a, it can be the difference between life and death sometimes,” Escobar said.
Escobar also reminded business owners that a judicial warrant is necessary for ICE to enter areas that aren’t public.
“We’re not providing any specific types of recommendations on what folks should necessarily do. I mean, our mission and our goal here is just to ensure that people understand their constitutional rights,” he said. “This is ultimately about due process.”
News4 asked ICE and the Department of homeland security to address the rumors and is still waiting for a response.
A rep for D.C. police says the department will not take part in any immigration enforcement operation.
