Texas Restaurant Industry Struggles Amid Immigration Enforcement Crackdown

Across the nation, hospitality leaders are sounding an alarm: a severe labor shortage made worse by immigration enforcement and disruptive raids is crippling an essential American industry.

This week, the CEO of the Texas Restaurant Association attested to the direct impact of recently stepped-up immigration enforcement on the state's labor force.

"We truly believe from the restaurant industry, that we can have both secure borders, but also a secure economy" said Emily Williams Knight, whose association represents about 58,000 food-service establishments across Texas.

She spoke Tuesday at a virtual press conference conducted by the American Business Immigration Coalition, which said it wanted to move the discussion past political rhetoric and push for practical solutions to protect U.S. farmers, restaurants and the hospitality sector.

Restaurants, Knight said, are the state's largest private sector employer, with 1.4 million workers — an estimated 22% of whom are immigrants. As of January 2025, the Texas Workforce Commission reports 1,512,000 people working in the leisure and hospitality sector statewide. and 144,500 in the Austin metro area.

But uncertainty over immigration enforcement — both among employers and employees — is causing daily disruption.

The Department of Homeland Security has recently flip-flopped on guidelines that would have limited immigration raids at farms, hotels and restaurants. The decision reflects ongoing conversations within the Trump administration regarding enforcement, particularly in industries heavily reliant on immigrant labor.

Stephen Miller, President Donald Trump's White House deputy chief of staff, has reportedly pressed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to achieve 3,000 arrests per day.

Still, Knight expressed optimism. She interprets Trump’s recent, albeit brief, reversal of immigration raid enforcement guidance as a positive sign of internal dialogue within the administration and a willingness to engage with the business community.

The human cost: Lives in limbo

Adam Orman of Good Work Austin, a coalition of small businesses dedicated to creating worker-centered hospitality industry improvements, and L’oca d’Oro, an Italian restaurant in Mueller, views the back-and-forth enforcement guidelines with cynicism.

"This shows how little they value us," he said.

For Orman, immigration reform is not a theoretical debate; it's a daily gamble. The fear, he says, is palpable. Anxiety has loomed in the industry since the election, fueled by promises of increased deportations. While he has not witnessed immigration raids on restaurants, he says his immigrant workers, even those with legal status, have been affected by detentions.

Two of his employees, both with resident alien numbers, have been detained. One, held for two months, was eventually released on bail only to face the limbo of an asylum application, unable to work or drive. The other remains in detention, awaiting a bail hearing. Orman says he is not aware of prior criminal records for either of the employees.

The issue is not merely about lost labor, he says; it's about lives thrown into disarray. For him, the unpredictability echoes the uncertainty previously caused by tariffs.

Immigrant workforce faces detentions, systemic issues

The disruptive reality of these enforcement actions was underscored at the conference Tuesday by Beverly Idsinga of the Dairy Producers of New Mexico. She recounted an ICE raid on a New Mexico dairy earlier this month. There, 11 individuals were arrested on the spot. The dairy lost 35 employees in a matter of hours, reducing staff from 55 to 20.

It was a devastating blow to the dairy's operations, Idsinga said, with few options for replacing employees. Maryland Congressman Andy Harris, acknowledged the difficulty of hiring in such positions. "You're not going to find American workers for a lot of these tasks," he said.

Orman challenges the narrative that immigrants only do jobs nobody else wants. He points out that his immigrant employees work in every facet of the restaurant, side-by-side with non-immigrants. For him, the industry’s systemic challenges extend far beyond the immediate threat of detention.

The restaurant industry itself is plagued by low wages, few benefits, little paid time off and a high percentage of wage theft. True immigration reform, Orman argues, therefore must address these deeper issues. He advocates for a streamlined process for obtaining work permits and a clearer path to citizenship.

Political leaders and business owners on the call were in consensus about the need for easier access to work visas, but diverged on the question of citizenship.

Dale Romans, president of the Kentucky Horsemen's Benevolent Association, suggested a scenario where a person who had been working and paying their taxes with no criminal record could be sponsored by an employer who has been unable to fill positions with American employees. This, he said, would be "the perfect scenario."

While the speakers in the press conference expressed their gratitude for the dialogue and the pursuit of workable solutions, immigrants in these industries remain vulnerable.