By Tami Luhby, CNN

(CNN) — If US Immigration and Customs Enforcement visits a Chicago restaurant in the coming days, Sam Toia wants to know.

With the incoming Trump administration planning to kick off an immigration crackdown in major cities, possibly including Chicago, Toia, CEO of the Illinois Restaurant Association, has been fielding calls from worried members and preparing to come to their assistance.

“Make sure all your folks that are working – and I’m sure they have – have the documents in place, and if ICE inspectors come in, that you comply with them,” Toia said he relays to members about I-9 employment eligibility verification forms. “Please comply with the law, just like you would if a health inspector came in.”

At the same time, he is touching base with area immigration attorneys and advocates to enable the association to swiftly provide referrals should any eateries or their staffers need help.

“If they do come to your restaurant, give me a call,” said Toia, noting foreign-born workers are the “backbone” of the Windy City’s hospitality industry. “We have immigration lawyers that are members of the association, so we will put employers and employees in contact with the right folks.”

Employers’ rights

Like Toia, business groups and employers around the US are gearing up for the looming immigration actions that were a centerpiece of President-elect Donald Trump’s 2024 election campaign.

Since Trump’s victory in November, the American Business Immigration Coalition has held several dozen in-person and virtual training sessions with more than a thousand employers to prep for the sweeps. For instance, earlier this month, more than 150 agricultural producers, including meat processors and dairy farmers, joined an online webinar.

The goal is to help companies – particularly smaller ones that may not have attorneys and consultants on hand – minimize disruptions to their workforces and day-to-day operations, said Rebecca Shi, executive director of the coalition, which has more than 1,700 members.

“It’s important for employers to know that they do have rights, but they also have to be in compliance with the law,” she said.

If ICE agents arrive, businesses should ask for a warrant signed by a judge to enter the premises. Employers have 72 hours to produce the requested documentation “so they don’t have to scramble,” Shi said. They can then contact attorneys to make sure they have the all the proper paperwork, including the I-9 forms, and information that they need.

Coalition members are also concerned that some of their foreign-born staff may not show up to work in an effort to avoid any contact with ICE. Already, businesses patronized by immigrants are seeing declines in sales as some residents try to stay home more, Shi said.

“Even employees with legal status don’t want to be swept up,” she said. “Deportation is a pretty blunt instrument.”

Although Chicago restaurateur Sam Sanchez doesn’t think that ICE agents will randomly raid restaurants, he’s getting prepared. He’s asked his human resources staff to call the company’s payroll firm and make sure it has employees’ I-9 forms on hand. And he’s advising that staffers carry their work permits, visas and any other documentation with them.

Sanchez, owner of Third Coast Hospitality who is a coalition member and on the National Restaurant Association board, believes the coming sweeps will target immigrants with criminal records for deportation, an action he supports. There’s no way to know whether any of his workers might have a criminal past and be on ICE’s list, he noted.

But Sanchez is also advocating for Trump and Congress to make it easier for longtime undocumented immigrants who have worked and paid taxes in the US for years to obtain work authorization. He is among a group of Latino business leaders who are forming a coalition, named Comité de 100, to press for legal pathways for Dreamers, whose parents brought them to America as children, and for legal work permits for essential workers, as well as for border security.

“A lot of my employees voted for Trump,” said Sanchez, who also cast his ballot for the president. “People have a hard time believing that, and I don’t know why. They felt abandoned by the Biden administration.”

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