More Heat in the Kitchen: Restaurant-Focused Immigration Enforcement
Immigration enforcement is heightened in the restaurant and hospitality industry. Holland & Knight previously reported a memorandum of understanding signed in April 2025, allowing the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to access IRS employer records. With this shift of enforcement toward employers, ICE's rate of Notices of Inspection in the first half of 2025 were reportedly 10 times the rate of 2024.1
Several immigration-related indictments of restaurant operators have accompanied this shift. Legal actions ordinarily fall into two buckets: 1) federal immigration and tax violations and 2) discrimination claims regarding unfair document demands during Form I-9 verification. Criminal and civil penalties are common. Trade groups have noticed and are publishing best practices for operators likely to be audited, but indictments have still come.
For example, an FBI and U.S. Customs and Border Protection investigation recently led to an indictment of owners and operators of a restaurant on charges of conspiracy, harboring illegal aliens for commercial advantage and private financial gain, and fraud and misuse of immigration documents.2 In several more cases, restauranters and, separately, bakery owners were convicted of transporting and harboring undocumented migrants who worked at their facilities.3
Allegations of free or reduced-rate housing, food and transportation for illegal immigrant employees are common in these actions. Similar indictments in the past have included tax-related charges, as when ICE and the IRS teamed up to bring indictments against a regional restaurant chain for tax and immigration violations, alleging the unlawful hiring and harboring of illegal aliens, conspiracy to defraud the IRS and tax evasion.4
Turning to nearly the inverse problem, recent settlement agreements entered into with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) resolve claims that restaurant groups discriminated against lawful permanent residents when checking their permission to work in the United States.5 In these cases, the restaurant chains allegedly have required additional and unnecessary documentation from lawful permanent residents as proof of their permission to work.
Corporate visa disputes are less common in the hospitality sector apart from multinational transfers. Requests for executives or managers reliant on high-level decision-making are closely scrutinized to ensure the applicants do not spend too much time on non-qualifying tasks such as cooking and serving. Not even chefs claiming specialized knowledge have succeeded in the past.6
Beyond enforcement actions, the restaurant and hospitality industry also faces workforce contraction as workers who previously held employment authorization through humanitarian parole programs – such as the Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela parole program or through Temporary Protected Status (TPS) – have lost their lawful status and work permits. The termination of parole programs and the non-redesignation or termination of TPS designations for certain countries has eliminated many workers from the lawful labor pool.
Public and private lawsuits for violation of the Trafficking Victim Protection Reauthorization Act and similar state laws, Title VII and/or wage and hour laws have also been filed against restaurant chains in recent years. All of this makes compliance reviews even more important.
Holland & Knight's Restaurant Industry Team, together with its Immigration, Nationality and Consular Team, White Collar Defense and Investigations Team, Tax Controversy and Litigation Practice and Labor and Employment Group can assist your company with compliance and defense regarding these issues. If you have questions, reach out to the authors.
Notes
1 Jed Butler, "ICE Worksite Enforcement Tracker: Every major Action Employers Need to Know (2025-2026)," i9 Intelligence (March 13, 2026).
2 "Restaurant Owner Indicted on Charges of Harboring Illegal Aliens and Visa Fraud," DOJ Press Release (April 24, 2026).
3 Dina Arevalo, "South Texas Bakery Owners Convicted in High-Profile Migrant Case," San Antonio News (Aug. 13, 2025); "Jacksonville Restauranter Pleads Guilty to Harboring Illegal Aliens," ICE Press Release (March 4, 2025); Chris Hayes, "Restaurant Immigration Case Takes Secretive Turn in Court," FOX2 (Oct. 21, 2025).
4 "3 Restaurant Chain Executives Indicted on Federal Immigration, Tax Charges," ICE Press Release (April 20, 2011).
5 "Justice Department Secures Agreement with Minnesota Restaurant Group to Resolve Immigration-Related Discrimination Claims," DOJ Press Release (Jan. 13, 2025); "Justice Department Secures Agreement with Florida Restaurant Group to Resolve Immigration-Related Discrimination Claims," DOJ Press Release (Nov. 26, 2024).
6 "Brazilian Restaurant Chain Loses Immigration Dispute," Law.com (Aug. 13, 2013).