Restaurants on Lower Broadway have shut down due to fears of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)’s presence in Nashville.
Fox 17 reported that at least two restaurants closed last weekend due to the rumored presence of law enforcement.
“It’s just creating this general sense of fear all the time,” said a manager to Fox 17. “There were rumors flying around about ICE being on Lower Broadway. It was credible enough that we had to close the restaurant because back-of-house staff had to leave. Everyone split.”
Another manager told the outlet that his restaurant had closed because half his staff were not attending work.
The outlet said it could not confirm if ICE agents were present on Lower Broadway.
In response to the article, Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) said that if someone doesn’t want their business to shut down, they should not hire illegal aliens.
Tennessee law requires companies with between six and 34 employees to use E-Verify or have people they hire produce paperwork showing their work identity and eligibility to ensure workers are qualified to work legally.
If companies have 35 or more employees, state law mandates them to use E-Verify.
Federal law enforcement agencies have stepped up their efforts recently to address illegal immigration in Tennessee’s largest city.
ICE and the Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) conducted around 150 traffic stops earlier in May due to law violations. Law enforcement ended up arresting people with outstanding warrants, including people suspected of having gang affiliations. Illegal guns and drugs were also seized.
Last week, Mayor Freddie O’Connell and the Metro City Council condemned the operation.
“This type of federal enforcement action is not focused on making us safer and leaves people in our community fearing any interaction with law enforcement when there is a crime occurring,” O’Connell said.
The mayor issued an executive order telling city departments to report their communication with federal law enforcement to his office.
In total, THP and ICE have arrested over 100 people since starting their working operation.
ICE rumors in Nashville also impacted a professional soccer event last weekend.
La Brigada De Oro, a Nashville SC supporters group, canceled its pregame tailgating event due to these recent arrests.
“In solidarity with the injustices that we are experiencing right at this very moment within our Latino/Hispanic community. That has been so deeply affected,” the group said.
“During difficult times, family stands together– when one of us is affected, we all are. And at this moment it doesn’t feel prudent to celebrate, cheer and party while so many families within our community are being separated and destroyed,” it added.
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Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network. Email tips to Zachery at [email protected].
Photo “Lower Broadway” by Jonathan Cutrer. CC BY-NC 2.0.
The restaurant should consider staffing their place with non-criminal workers.
Uphold the law. A $1,000 fine & 1 year in jail for anyone that employs an illegal alien (For each illegal alien) That will stop them.
I agree completely!
La Brigada De Oro (The Golden Brigade?) needs to know how very RACIST they sound. With over 70% of America self-identifying as “White-Non-Hispanic,” there are tons of folks that look like me that don’t act like me. I am not scared of being mistaken for a criminal because I have the same skin tone as one. There is no need for such groups to encourage such fears.
If there is fear in “the community,’ maybe it’s justified. If you are doing wrong, you should be afraid someone is going to find out and the consequences of your choice will appear.
All those jobs that could be going to high school kids so they can learn work skills at a young age. Like we did growing up. Bus boys, dish washers, fast food workers, etc…
The article was written from the perspective that ICE was the problem not American restaurant owners and managers violating laws on hiring illegals. What’s wrong with America? It is almost to the point that laws do not have to be followed if it involves illegals. The restaurants should have been closed not because of ICE but because the owners and managers of the restaurants lost their liquor license for violating employment laws.
Talk about self-indicting.
The beer? $10. The hamburger? $22 without fries or a drink. The name brand cocktail? $27.
The guy working in the back? An ilegal alien named Emilio that the bar pays $13 an hour under the table while they direct him to get on public assistance, aid in his identity theft and treat him like slave labor with no insurance.
Muh poor profit margins.
It’s time to prosecute the businesses who’ve gotten rich skirting the laws too. The entire West End side of Vanderbilt was built with slave labor in the last 10 years.
We should not have one able bodied person on the welfare rolls but these local businesses have gotten away with murder.
To that end, I still remember when the now defunct Blackstine Brewery hired an illegal alien named Ivan Moreno who raped and killed and grandmother in Bellevue a few years ago after he knocked on her door to ask for money for his daughter’s birthday. Miss Sadler’s scumbag neighbor had rented their home out to the dangerous illegal. The wadded up check was found in the driveway. Her bird had been killed. There was no one left to take care of her invalid husband who had dementia. The following week, Blackstone had up a help wanted sign. Years later there was a scandal where Moreno setup a Facebook account showing what a good time he was having in prison.
It’s not enough to fine the businesses and landlords knowing aiding and abetting. They must be made to suffer.
” Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) said that if someone doesn’t want their business to shut down, they should not hire illegal aliens.”
See how easy that is.
sounds like these establishments need to be investigated for violating employment rules