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Know This Now, August 15, 2025: 970+ Chefs, Hospitality Owners, James Beard Foundation, ABIC, and Major Partners Call for Action on Immigrant Work Permits

By August 15, 2025August 19th, 2025No Comments

970+ Chefs, Hospitality Owners, James Beard Foundation, ABIC, and Major Partners Call for Action on Immigrant Work Permits

ABIC, the James Beard Foundation, the Texas Restaurant Association and the Latino Restaurant Association, plus 14 more national and local organizations launched the Seat the Table campaign Thursday during an event with national press. Special guests included U.S. Representative Gabe Evans (R-CO8) and three restaurant owners and chefs who shared their experiences. Watch the full event here:


Seat the Table is a campaign to secure urgent work permits for long-term, tax-paying immigrant food and hospitality workers:

“What we’re seeing here today is a simple, commonsense ask: we’re seeking work permits for members of our community. Sales are falling and over 40% of our restaurants are now reporting they don’t have critical people to fill jobs,”
–Emily Knight, CEO and President of the Texas Restaurant Association. 

Immigrant workers keep restaurants, bars, farms, and hotels running. Labor shortages are already driving up prices and straining small businesses, and without action restaurants and bars will continue to close. Work permits would:

  • Address critical labor shortages in food service and hospitality
  • Stabilize food prices for consumers
  • Support small business owners across restaurants, hotels, farms, and bars
  • Strengthen local economies nationwide

Over 970 chefs, restaurant, winery, bar, inn and hotel owners have signed our open letter urging Congress to act. It’s time to stabilize America’s restaurants, bars, farms, hotels and protect the people who fuel them.

If you are in the hospitality industry and would like to be involved with Seat the Table, sign here.

See our full list of coalition partners:


More from the ABIC network

SF Chronicle Opinion: Employers Need to Make Their Voices Heard in the Fight Against Trump’s Immigration Crackdown
University of Oregon historian Julie M. Weise wrote that as federal immigration raids continue without the industry carve-outs that once protected essential immigrant labor, employees need to come to the public defense of undocumented workers.

She writes that “employers and their professional associations, such as the American Farm Bureau and the American Business Immigration Coalition, raised hell with their representatives in Washington, D.C., pleading their cases — that their crops would rot in the fields and their businesses grind to a halt.”

But, she wrote, employers need to continue to step up.

My San Antonio: ICE Raids are Disrupting Award-Winning Texas Restaurants

Austin restaurateur Adam Orman, owner of L’Oca d’Oro and Bambino who signed our Seat the Table letter, says ICE activity this year has led to two employee detentions, straining his small teams. “Losing one person makes a huge difference,” he said.

The National Restaurant Association and ABIC partner the Texas Restaurant Association warn immigration enforcement is worsening labor shortages and urge balanced policies to protect both border security and the workforce.

Take Action with ABIC

Secure America’s Workforce: D.C. Summit | Oct. 21–23, 2025

Registration is open for ABIC’s biggest fly-in yet — and we want you with us in Washington, D.C.

This October, join business leaders, advocates, and coalition partners from across the country to:

  • Speak directly with lawmakers about real workforce challenges
  • Champion commonsense, bipartisan immigration solutions
  • Stand united with leaders from agriculture, construction, hospitality, healthcare, and more

Already registered? Help us build momentum,  forward this invite to your network.

Register now or share the link: RSVP Here

News Briefing

Fox News: Rogan Says Voters Are Frustrated, Expected Trump’s ICE Raids To Nab Gang Members Not Landscapers

Influential podcaster Joe Rogan said this week that ICE actions are alienating the electorate by arresting people whose only crime was immigrating illegally.:

“It was a visceral reaction that a lot of people had to the idea of people just showing up and pulling people out of schools and pulling people out of Home Depot and pulling people that were just hardworking people that maybe snuck over here because they didn’t have a legal way to get over here, but since they’ve been here, they’ve been good people and they’re a part of communities.”

It’s the second time in recent months he’s made similar comments, calling the raids ‘insane’ in July.

Politico and NPR: Many Home Care Workers are Immigrants and Now Fear Going to Work

Stricter immigration enforcement policies and work-place ICE raids are worsening staffing shortages in eldercare, where immigrants make up one-third of in-home care workers, reports Politico. With U.S. demand for caregivers set to surge as the over-65 population grows from 61 million in 2024 to 82 million in 2050, experts say Americans and new technologies are unlikely to fill the gap.

“Japan, much of northern Europe, New Zealand — they have all created visas that specifically target the eldercare workforce, because of the recognition that you’ve got this massively aging population,” said Seth Sternberg, CEO of Honor, a home care company and franchise network.

He’d like to see lawmakers make a specialized visa for in-home care workers.

NPR reported that federal immigration raids in Chicago are leaving disabled residents like Michelle Garcia without essential home care. Garcia, who has cerebral palsy and cares for her bedridden husband, has gone weeks without help bathing or cleaning as immigrant caregivers leave or avoid work due to fear of ICE arrests. Immigrants make up a large share of Chicago’s home health workforce — 65% in 2024. 

Farmers Face Labor Issues as Immigration Impacts Pennsylvania and Wisconsin’s Agricultural Workforce

Agriculture leaders warn that immigration policies are threatening key parts of the food supply chain from meatpacking to produce processing. Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding says worker losses — like 100 disappearing from one meat plant — are creating instability.



U.S. Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA), Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, told Fox he’s had conversations with the administration about some farms’ dependency on undocumented workers.


Farmers are seeing the impact in real time, especially the fear keeping workers and customers at home.

“We are going to see shortages in processing, produce packing, and everything else in short order. Not so much the deportation, but the fears of it,” said Michael Kovach, President of the Pennsylvania Farmers Union.

In Wisconsin, the state’s largest farm organization is calling for “meaningful” immigration reform:

Rufus Haucke, owner of Keewaydin Farms said many immigrants are skipping work and community events. Recently a friend of his was unable to go to his mother-in-law’s funeral because they were afraid of traveling.

“Can you imagine not being able to attend your parent’s funeral? I mean, that’s about as heartbreaking as it gets,” Haucke said.

WaPo and Des Moines Register: Immigration Changes Put Meat Processing Workforce at Risk

The Washington Post reported that Salisbury, Maryland’s Haitian community has been a key part of the region’s poultry industry, but is facing deep uncertainty as Trump administration immigration rollbacks threaten their legal status and jobs. The administration’s plan to end TPS for nearly 350,000 Haitians by September was blocked by a judge until February 2026, but the Supreme Court upheld the end of humanitarian parole, leaving many without a path to remain legally. Some workers at Perdue’s Salisbury plant have already been let go, and community leaders say fear is widespread.

“Labor is a constant challenge for the poultry processing industry, and has been for decades,” said Tom Super, a spokesperson for the National Chicken Council.

His industry is lobbying for a new guest worker visa program that could supply year-round labor for poultry processing.

In Iowa, meatpacking giant JBS fired 200 Ottumwa workers in July after the Trump administration revoked their work visas.

 The Meat Institute estimates 102,000 of the nation’s 510,000 meat processing jobs — including up to 7,000 in Iowa — are at risk from cuts to the humanitarian parole program for immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.

Smithfield Foods confirmed it is also dismissing affected workers at its Denison, Mason City, and Carroll plants, while Tyson Foods, Cargill Inc., and Seaboard Triumph Foods have not detailed impacts. Experts warn losing trained workers will hurt productivity and could raise meat prices.

Texas Monthly: The Taquerias Are Not Okay
Heightened enforcement policies and fears are hitting Texas taquerias hard, with some owners reporting steep sales declines and fearful customers. In Dallas, Maskaras Mexican Grill co-owner Rodolfo Jiménez says, “The restaurant’s sales have dropped by forty percent” and believes fear of deportation is keeping diners away.

In San Antonio, El Pastor Es Mi Señor co-owner Alex Sarmiento said that “people are staying home more,” adding that the political climate leaves many feeling on edge.

“It’s not just about laws or policies. It’s about people we care about,” Sarmiento said. “It’s seeing our parents work their whole lives and still feeling like they have to watch their backs. It’s hoping that close family and friends don’t grow up hearing they don’t belong.

NPR: Factories From GE To Kraft Heinz Lose Immigrant Workers, Stressing Those Who Remain
Trump’s rollback of immigration programs has removed work authorization from over a million immigrants from countries such as Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, leaving industries like manufacturing and food production scrambling to fill vacancies. The cancellations, which also target Temporary Protected Status for some groups, face court challenges but have already forced companies like GE Appliances to drop affected workers. The administration says the programs were abused, while critics argue they protected people fleeing violence and instability.

Tom Torres, a mechanic for Kraft Heinz in Holland, Mich., who serves as the local union president, says he’s sat in on more than a dozen human resources meetings where employees have been told they’re no longer eligible to work. He’s watched people in the company struggle to deliver the message with tears in their eyes. 

“It’s killing me, because I’m watching them walk out. I know these people because I work with them every day.”

Get Involved

  1. Secure your spot today for ABIC’s Secure America’s Workforce — October Fly-In and Policy Summit in Washington, DC. Register here.
  2. Join one of ABIC’s Councils of 100 and let your voice be heard with your peers – sign up here. The Council of 100 is a coalition of top business leaders working to advance common-sense workforce solutions.
  3. Share your story: If your business is interested in engaging with the press as part of ABIC or amplifying your story on social media, take this quick survey to let us know your preferences. 
  4. We’re hiring! ABIC is looking for a new Field Director to help lead our national campaigns. Learn more and apply here.

Key Employer Resources:

ABIC in the news. . . 

View all recent coverage here 

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