Twin Cities restaurant and hotel workers bring their “86 ICE!” campaign to the offices of Hospitality Minnesota.
Workers in the Twin Cities’ restaurant industry marked the start of Valentine’s Day weekend with a march on the offices Hospitality Minnesota, where they demanded the trade association sign onto a campaign to protect immigrant customers and staff.
Workers at the Feb. 13 rally in downtown Minneapolis said the violent surge of immigration enforcement across the state over the last two months had sent many of their colleagues into hiding – or worse.
The “86 ICE!” campaign, a nod to industry slang for banning someone or something from an establishment, calls for employers and employees to work together on training, planning and surviving the crisis created by increased immigration enforcement.
Demands include refusing service to immigration agents, denying entry to agents unless they have a judicial warrant and training all restaurant employees in how to protect the rights and safety of customers and fellow staff members.
Two local worker centers, CTUL and the Restaurant Opportunities Center of Minnesota, are behind the organizing effort, and several local restaurant owners already have signed on, including Miguel Hernandez, owner of Lito’s Burritos in Richfield.
Signing onto the “86 ICE!” campaign, Hernandez said during the rally, would show that Hospitality Minnesota stands by the business owners who are doing the right thing.
“Most of these demands are already being done by a lot of good community business owners,” Hernandez said during the rally. “Of course, there’s always bad actors, and we need them to stand up for their staff, too.”
Organizers also want restaurants to pledge not to fire or discipline immigrant workers who miss shifts because they fear being harassed or detained.
Remy, a Minneapolis bartender, gives a shout out to his co-workers who were detained during Operation Metro Surge. “Some of them I’ll never see again.”
Operation Metro Surge may be over, but the number of agents, combined, from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection remained about three times greater than previous levels as this issue went to press.
For Patti, an immigrant worker in the hospitality industry who asked not to share her last name, attending the “86 ICE!” rally was the first time she had left her home, aside from going to work when it felt safe, for over a month. She said co-workers helped with groceries and other supplies, and her employer offered flexibility and help getting to work safely.
But not everyone she knows in the industry has been as fortunate. Patti said it wasn’t until after a friend who works as a dishwasher was detained at a bus stop on his way to work that his restaurant began offering rides to vulnerable workers.
It’s a sad example, she said, of why “we need proactive safety plans and trainings at all restaurants.”
Several non-immigrant workers at the rally offered shout-outs to co-workers they worry they will never see again. Hazel, a server whose employer took the “86 ICE!” pledge, said workers in her restaurant were willing to strike to keep their colleagues safe.
“If nothing else, everyone must feel they are safe in their workplace,” she said. “They need to be protected by their employer. But more importantly and more personally, I want to say goodbye to my co-workers after a shift and know they will be there the next day.”
After the rally, a delegation of workers and business owners attempted to meet with a Hospitality Minnesota representative but were told the offices were closed for the day.
CTUL and ROC said supporters of the campaign have sent nearly 2,000 letters to Hospitality Minnesota, but the industry group has denied requests to “discuss a path forward.”.
– Michael Moore, UA editor
