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 Post subject: Illegal Immigration and Restaurants
PostPosted: Sat Jun 23, 2012 12:21 pm 
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Location: Portland, OR
Balazo taqueria (taqueria == burrito joint) which was the mexican food anchor of Haight Street, and introduced the "gourmet burrito" as well as the "salsa bar" concepts in the early 90's. These concepts would be embraced by many other restaurantiers, among them Steve Elis, founder of the national Chipotle Grill chain. They also did a 15-hour-a-day thriving business, and had expanded to 11 locations in the Bay Area.

So we were rather surprised when, a few months ago, they closed for renovation and never reopened. That location has now been sold to El Faro, a venerable local taqueria chain (if you hadn't guessed, burritos in San Francisco are more of a staple food than hamburgers).

Doing some research, I just found this: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/1 ... 59023.html

That got me thinking: we have an entire industry here in the West -- restaurants -- which rely completely on illegal immigrant labor to operate. Rough estimate is that at any given time, 40% of the restaurant workers in California are undocumented ( http://sanfrancisco.grubstreet.com/2007 ... estau.html), not to mention agriculture, which is even more dependent on it.

From my personal perspective, I feel like if someone is working their tuchas off to make be a tasty burrito, and pays taxes, that person ought to be offered citizenship. But clearly there's folks in Washington (and Arizona) who see things differently from me.

What do you think about undocumented immigration and restaurants? Does this issue come up in Switzerland or the Phillipines?

(BTW, the Sandovals of Balazo were evading taxes as well as hiring undocumenteds, so they would/should have been busted regardless.)

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 Post subject: Re: Illegal Immigration and Restaurants
PostPosted: Sat Jun 23, 2012 2:56 pm 
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Everybody needs to be registered in Switzerland, so undocumented workers are rare. We need workers though and have a large population of legal aliens.

Mary


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 Post subject: Re: Illegal Immigration and Restaurants
PostPosted: Sat Jun 23, 2012 5:07 pm 
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Fuz
This was a huge issue for my association (Hotel & Lodging) for many years and one of the things I worked hard on with the Colorado congressional delegation (along with a coalition from the restaurant association and landscape contractors) was to find a way to offer a guest worker program, particular for our "seasonal" employers. Our delegation was(mostly) sympathetic and willing to work on a comprehensive immigration solution that would include guest workers, but could never get it off the ground. There was a congressional coalition working on a solution, but it is so complex it just never seems to go anywhere. I, personally, think anyone willing to do a job that most Americans refuse to do, work hard, obey our laws, and pay their taxes, should be offered a pathway to legal status. Perhaps the Dream Act is a start.
I should add, that most reputable establishments don't set out to hire undocumented workers, but the documents used to verify legal status are easily forged and the average restaurant operator has a hard time telling the difference. There is a Federal program called e-verify which is not mandatory.....because it is not failsafe. Consequently, workers in a restaurant kitchen or hotel housekeeping department may have been hired by someone who thought they were legal and maintained all of the proper documentation. There is also the problem of 3rd party employement companies that hire workers for the hospitality industry and they, too, sometimes let things fall through the cracks. It is a mess and the restaurant (or hotel or anyone needing labor) gets caught in the middle and in many cases ends up shutting their doors rather than trying to fight it.

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 Post subject: Re: Illegal Immigration and Restaurants
PostPosted: Sat Jun 23, 2012 5:42 pm 
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In the US an undocumented worker is a person who has misplaced his drivers license. An illegal alien is a person who has no legal reason for being here.


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 Post subject: Re: Illegal Immigration and Restaurants
PostPosted: Sat Jun 23, 2012 7:17 pm 
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A couple of Chipotle restaurants here got busted for undocumented/illegal workers last year. Minnesota has its fair share of deportation actions, although I'm sure not on a scale with border states. I don't know what percentage of restaurant workers here are immigrants since I don't eat out much, but in my limited experience it doesn't appear to be high.

In North Dakota, there are increasing numbers of immigrants who work on large farms, dairies, etc. I have no idea how many are undocumented, but no one there is really looking too closely because there aren't enough people to do all the work. Everyone who formerly farmed is up in the oil fields or has moved out of state.


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 Post subject: Re: Illegal Immigration and Restaurants
PostPosted: Sat Jun 23, 2012 7:27 pm 
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Most restaurants in urban areas rely on undocumented workers to keep their doors open. I think the bigots who "got theirs, now want the doors closed" are closed-minded jerks. (Nah, I don't have strong views.) Um, we were all immigrants at some point unless you happen to be Native American. I'm not saying we should have a completely open-door policy, but I know many undocumented workers, and they are much harder working than many of the American's working in the same establishments. There should be some path to becoming legal.

Amy


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 Post subject: Re: Illegal Immigration and Restaurants
PostPosted: Sat Jun 23, 2012 9:01 pm 
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I would guess that I would be one of those bigots who "got theirs and want the doors closed" Not exactly true, as I believe in legal immigration. Illegal anything bothers me, and, if that makes me a closed-minded jerk, so be it. True, my family entered this country a couple of hundred years ago, were hard working, made a success of themselves, but they did it legally. You do see the difference?

There is a path to becoming a legal resident in place. Problem is, the illegals chose not to follow it. Now they want special consideration and a move to the front of the line ahead of those who did follow the rules.

Frankly, I do not believe that a cooking forum is the place to debate our border problems, but if this is your choice of venue, and the mods allow it, count me in. I can also point you to several sites where the debate is already ongoing. Just PM me and I'll give you the URL's


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 Post subject: Re: Illegal Immigration and Restaurants
PostPosted: Sat Jun 23, 2012 9:16 pm 
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I don't wish to debate it here. I want to discuss cooking. I just happen to work in the restaurant industry and see what's going on, so felt a need to comment. Call me close-minded for my views...I really don't care.

The path to legality is difficult--if not impossible--for many of the immigrants who work in the industry. Many came as children, so had no choice as to their status. They are now to be deported because of their parents' decisions?

I'll get off my soapbox.

Amy


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 Post subject: Re: Illegal Immigration and Restaurants
PostPosted: Sat Jun 23, 2012 9:33 pm 
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As a side note, many of the workers at Windows on at the World who were killed on 9/11 had families who couldn't get any compensation because of immigration status issues.
If a legal method of immigration was available to the people who come here, they would use it. The trip into the country from central America is neither fun nor easy. Not to mention the huge population of undocumented workers here on expired visas from Eastern Europe and the Euro Zone, who, being Cauacasian, aren't targeted the way Latino/Hispanic and Asian workers are.


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 Post subject: Re: Illegal Immigration and Restaurants
PostPosted: Sun Jun 24, 2012 12:36 am 
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So ...

To bring it back to how it affects restaurants:

I think the impact is dramatically different in different states/countries. Like, having been out to the East Coast on business several times this year, it's pretty clear to me that restaurants in D.C., Carolina, Philly, etc. aren't dependant on immigrant labor the way restaurants in the West and Southwest are. Here when you read about something like the Balazo shutdown, it's clear that it was the tax evasion that did them in rather than the illegal labor, since every restaurant here over 10 staff uses illegal labor. In Minnesota I imagine that 63 undocumented immigrants working for a restaurant would be front page news; in California it's "that's all?".

Am I wrong?

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