'People seek our food to feel close to home': Minneapolis chef says ICE fears hurt business

NINA MOINI: Working in the back of house at many restaurants in Minnesota, you'll find a Hispanic, maybe a Latino employee. In fact, government labor data shows that the most common occupations for Hispanic or Latino Minnesotans are chefs and cooks. With ICE detaining hundreds in the Twin Cities and now in their third week of an operation, it's put the restaurant industry on edge. Joining me now is Gustavo Romero, co-owner and chef of the restaurant Oro by Nixta in Minneapolis. Thank you so much for your time this afternoon, Gustavo.

GUSTAVO ROMERO: Thank you for having me.

NINA MOINI: I just want to start by maybe asking you just how you're feeling the past few weeks, with some of the news that's been going on related to ICE here in the Twin Cities.

GUSTAVO ROMERO: I think it's obviously a combination of feelings, but I think intimidation, and anger. I think it's a lot of things that come to mind and [INAUDIBLE] without excuses, just because the way that we look. So it's a lot going on there.

NINA MOINI: Mm-hmm. It's something that sounds like affects you on a personal level as well as on a business level. And I mentioned there at the top some of these numbers because it's important that we talk about what's going on, and not just in terms of stories here and there, but we know that this is impacting the restaurant industry right now. Tell us more about how this is impacting you.

GUSTAVO ROMERO: Well, for us, we have a Mexican restaurant. People seek our food to feel close to home. I think we have a lot of the people in the community, there's people of the Latin community, people that look like us, people that are afraid to go out because they're going to be racially profiled. They might get kidnapped with no reason.

So we see a lot of cancellations, we see a lot of people-- we see the demographic of [INAUDIBLE] changing. So it's definitely an issue. We have an industry that is already struggling with all the regulations that we have, and going through this is extremely, extremely difficult, especially for a Latino business.

NINA MOINI: What's your biggest concern regarding any immigrant employees? Is it that people will come, and then ICE will come? Or is it that people will stop showing up to work because they're afraid? What are some of your concerns there?

GUSTAVO ROMERO: I think all of them, I think, just don't feel safe to come to work just because they feel like they became targeted. Same happens with our clientele. We have a lot of Latinx clientele and supporters and we've seen a decrease in that.

NINA MOINI: OK. So you're feeling this on the front of people making reservations as well, people coming to the restaurant, the back of the house. It sounds like it's impacting you on every level. Are you afraid talking about this now? Are you afraid of receiving a visit from federal agents? Has anything like that happened?

GUSTAVO ROMERO: It hasn't happened to us, but it has happened to places that we go to like grocery stores, places where I go to seek products for my restaurant. When you go and try to go into these places, and they tell you they cannot open because they have an ICE truck parked outside waiting for somebody to show up so they can harass them, it is an issue. And it's not a place that we know. This is not a place that we are. Our community is not like that.

And when you're feeling targeted just because of the way that you look, I don't even think that it's necessarily about immigrant status. I think it's just if you look a certain way you're going to be profiled, because if you look different, if you look white, you wouldn't have any problems even if you're not from here. And I think that that's the biggest issue that we have right now.

NINA MOINI: Can I ask, you immigrated from Mexico as a teenager. Are you fearing for your own safety as you're out walking about?

GUSTAVO ROMERO: I do, because I know that they don't necessarily come in a nice way and ask you about it. They come in masks. And I can tell you, I come from a country where you see people in masks, and they have nothing nice to say or do with you. So this is also a lot of us are moving to a country of opportunity, and we look for a better life. And in a way this is almost worse than where we come from.

NINA MOINI: How so?

GUSTAVO ROMERO: Just the way it feels. I can tell you that I can go to my home and walk around the streets and not feel threatened, even how dangerous Mexico is. But knowing that if I see a truck with tinted windows, maybe someone can come out of the truck and start-- I don't know, it's just a bad situation. I'm personally afraid. I have a kid, they speak Spanish. I have an accent. These are things that they seem to be the issue that they look for.

NINA MOINI: I hear you saying that the promise is supposed to be different in the US, and I wonder if--

GUSTAVO ROMERO: And I think it still is. I think this is a beautiful country. And the community, especially for us in the Twin Cities, our community have accepted us and take us and support us, and put us in the place that we are. And this is literally destroying everything that we have.

NINA MOINI: What about if more people, more Minnesotans came or showed up? I know a lot of people have been rallying for people who are not afraid of being detained by ICE to come out and go to different businesses. Any pushes that you're hearing like that, or anything?

GUSTAVO ROMERO: I believe that our community will support us. I think we've seen an increase of people that come to us and ask us if we need anything. They're like, if you have any issues, please call us. We'll come support you. So our community is still there. Our problem is not our community.

The problem is the people above that. They're putting us in this situation, and to be honest, putting the agents in these situations, too. Because if I see somebody come to one of my neighbors with a mask and harassing them, you have to react. This is our people. These are our neighbors. These are the people, they have helped us grow the city, and they're such a vital part of the community.

NINA MOINI: Gustavo, we've seen some businesses changing hours. We've seen businesses that are struggling. And I think one thing people may not know about restaurants is that it's a risky game to be in, and there isn't always a ton of cash flow. Are you concerned about having to scale anything back, or even potentially having to close over this?

GUSTAVO ROMERO: You know, it's the same-- one of the restaurateurs in the city, [INAUDIBLE], says that every restaurant is about three bad weeks away from closing, and this is certainly bringing us there. If we don't have customers to sell, if we don't have people to produce, we have nothing. We are in the industry that we depend fully in our community, and when our community feel threatened, then we have nothing.

NINA MOINI: I know the service industry is pretty tight, right? What are you hearing from other restaurant owners? Are there any plans to come together and make any type of actions or asks, or anything like that?

GUSTAVO ROMERO: You know, we have a great community of restaurateurs and chefs. We're constantly checking in with each other and making sure that we're all OK, and just to make sure that everybody knows that we are on the same page. And then if anybody needs anything, then we're ready to support them in whichever way possible.

But I talked to Soleil Ramirez from Crasqui in St. Paul, Cristian de Leon, he has four restaurants in the Twin Cities, Chef Alex Roberts from Alma. We have a text thread where everybody is showing support and feeling the same situation. Because as we say, yes, we are the most affected, but we're not the only ones.

You can probably go to every restaurant in the city, and you will find somebody that looks like me. And it's been like that for generations. And I think it's not about being legal or illegal. It's a lot of people that know they're legal, like myself, and then we still feel the same feel that anybody that wouldn't have any papers. Because I don't think this is about who is legal, who's illegal. I think it's just about the way that we look.

NINA MOINI: All right, Gustavo. I want to thank you so much for stopping by Minnesota Now and telling us about what you're experiencing, and we hope you'll come back soon. Thank you.

GUSTAVO ROMERO: Thank you.

NINA MOINI: Gustavo Romero is the co-owner and chef of the Minneapolis restaurant Oro by Nixta.