The New York City Hospitality Alliance highlighted the impact of recent immigration raids on the local hospitality industry, stressing the importance of undocumented workers. The email guidance for employers addressing what to do if ICE visits reflects ongoing fears affecting small businesses. With a significant percentage of chefs, cooks, and waitstaff being undocumented, the potential loss of these workers poses a risk to the already struggling labor market post-pandemic. Andrew Rigie, the Alliance's director, emphasizes that immigrants are essential to this labor-intensive sector.
For the Hospitality Alliance, a decade-plus-old nonprofit representing the city's restaurants and nightlife spots, it was a reminder that raids and a climate of fear for immigrants could and likely will affect city small businesses and the local economy.
This is clearly something that our industry is very focused on, said Andrew Rigie, executive director of the Alliance. We are a labor-intensive industry and immigrants have been, and are, the backbone of our sector in so many ways.
Losing some or many of those workers could have a significant impact on New York's restaurants. The city just recently suffered a labor shortage as businesses emerged from the pandemic.
The email included information for employers about what they should do if they find themselves the target of a raid from ICE, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement - not an idle threat given probes in Trump's first term.
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