Arrests by immigration agents that started Sunday in Atlanta and other cities around the country have driven uncertainty and concerns for some businesses, workers and community leaders.
Some workers, even if they are legally authorized to work in the United States, are worried about the possibility of being swept up in Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests targeting others at their workplace. Businesses in certain industries are also concerned about how their workforce could be affected, the possibility of absenteeism and longer-term staff shortages as a result.
“There is definitely a little bit of almost panic around the community,” said an Atlanta-area restaurant owner of Latin descent who requested anonymity out of concern that the restaurant would be an ICE target even though he said it is staffed by legal workers. “ … Some of my close friends — they worry about family members. It’s kind of a difficult topic. It’s one of those things that if you engage, are you part of it? There is fear for sure among Hispanics. We as owners and chefs try to do our best to keep them informed.”
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that it began “enhanced targeted operations” in Atlanta to “enforce U.S. immigration law and preserve public safety and national security by keeping potentially dangerous criminal aliens out of our communities.”
“We’re prioritizing criminal aliens,” Tom Homan, the Trump administration’s new border czar, told CNN on Sunday, but added, “There’s going to be a point where we have to open the aperture to fugitives.”
ICE representatives in Atlanta have not responded to requests to answer questions about the arrests in Georgia.
Mario Guevara, a Spanish language journalist who reports under the brand MGNews, said he’s been contacted by relatives of 20 individuals arrested by ICE in metro Atlanta on Sunday. ICE posted on social media that it made 956 arrests Sunday and lodged 554 “detainers” to law enforcement agencies requesting that noncitizens with criminal charges be held in custody.
Emory University law professor John Acevedo also said while the targets of the ICE arrests appear to be undocumented people who have committed serious crimes, asylum-seekers could also be swept up.
“You might have, even at one work site, folks with different levels of documentation — some of them are deportable and some of whom are not. And it may be hard for ICE to tell,” Acevedo said. “That’s why we’re seeing so much fear among the immigrant communities.”
Jose Laos, a native of Peru who emigrated to the U.S. when he was a child, runs the Jose’s Birria pop-up and has worked in the food and beverage industry for more than two decades.
Laos is a U.S. permanent resident with a green card, allowing him to live in the country legally. Still, he’s nervous about the recent developments under the Trump administration.
“I’ve been in this country for 50 years,” he said. “I’m as legal as I can be without being a citizen, but I’m checking online every few days because it seems like things keep changing. My daughters are asking, ‘Daddy, are you going to get deported?’”
He said because of his longtime standing in the industry, he’s hearing from managers of restaurants who are anticipating staffing shortages and looking for employees, and also hearing from former undocumented restaurant employees who are looking for work or legal advice.
“A lot of them are thinking about going back to Mexico because they can’t not work,” he said.
The Georgia Restaurant Association, an industry trade group, acknowledged concern about the federal immigration actions and said it will “provide resources, in conjunction with the National Restaurant Association, to our members about how to prepare for heightened immigration enforcement.”
“The GRA does not provide legal (advice),” the organization said. “We strongly encourage all of our members to consult with their attorneys.”
Gilda Pedraza of the Latino Community Fund said her organization has doubled down on its “know your rights” campaign to tell immigrant communities that authorities still need judicial warrants to enter property and make arrests, as well as changes that now allow enforcement at churches and schools that were previously off-limits.
“My hope is that the federal government realizes that states like Georgia heavily rely on immigrants to support their key economic sectors like poultry, agriculture, construction, hospitality and retail,” Pedraza said. She also called on the public and officials to be cognizant of the fact that many people who lack legal status in America have children who are citizens, and the toll on those children and on state child welfare systems if their parents are taken away.
Impact on businesses
Unauthorized immigrants make up about 13% of workers in the construction industry, 12% in the agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting industries and 7% in the leisure and hospitality industries, according to the Pew Research Center, citing 2022 figures.
The occupations with the largest shares of unauthorized immigrant workers include drywall/ceiling tile installers and tapers at 33%, roofers at 32%, painters and paperhangers at 28%, other agricultural workers at 24%, construction laborers at 24% and maids and housekeeping cleaners at 24%, according to Pew.
Some industries and companies use staffing firms or contractors that handle hiring.
Industries that are reliant on immigrant labor are “going to feel the brunt” of the ICE arrests, and that will “eventually trickle down to the consumer, because prices are going to go up as either produce is lost because it can’t be harvested, or workers with more permanent status are hired at a much higher wage,” Acevedo said.
The construction industry was already concerned about a labor shortage before the ICE arrests began over the weekend.
Industry group Associated Builders and Contractors in a Friday news release said the construction industry needs to add 439,000 new workers this year to meet demand.
In recent years, an immigration surge increased the supply of migrant workers.
“Following the laws of supply and demand, mass deportations could constrain the availability of labor, which could stifle the ability of the industry to build the construction projects demanded by the marketplace,” Kristen Swearingen, ABC vice president of legislative and political affairs, said in a statement.
The organization recommends contractors use the federal E-Verify system to ensure workers have legal status. The group is also proposing a “merit-based, market-based visa system” to address the worker shortage and said its goal is to work with the White House and Congress to create such a system.
Ken Simonson, chief economist of the Associated General Contractors of America, another trade group, voiced similar concerns and said it is urging the Trump administration to establish new temporary construction worker visas.
“More than anything else, construction firms are worried about the supply of labor and the potential for materials prices to rise in 2025,” Simonson said in a media briefing Jan. 8. “This is in part because labor is already in short supply and materials prices have been volatile since 2020.”
What could happen, he said, is “as individuals make choices based on their fear of being picked up, we’re going to see some industries have a glut of employees, and others scrambling to find any.”
Resource for food service workers in crisis
Giving Kitchen, a resource for food service workers in crisis, said it has case managers that can offer resources in immigration law and employment, among other areas. The nonprofit organization is headquartered in Atlanta, but it provides financial services and resources to people nationwide.
The organization has bilingual case managers on staff (Spanish and Arabic) and can communicate in more than 180 different languages due to a partnership with RTT mobile. Requests for assistance can be made online at thegivingkitchen.org/help or thegivingkitchen.org/ayuda. Proof of citizenship or residency status is not required of applicants.
