Law enforcement spotted in DC days after visits to restaurants in the area
ICE says 'workplace inspections' conducted at 100 DC restaurants
ICE has been conducting what they call "workplace inspections" at dozens of D.C. restaurants. They told FOX 5 their agents went to 100 restaurants on Wednesday, asking for employee verification forms.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Law enforcement agents were spotted in Northwest DC Wednesday afternoon.
What we know:
A picture of the agents was sent to FOX 5 DC, where they can be seen standing on the corner of Mt. Pleasant and Kenyon Street NW. This all came just days after visits to restaurants in the area where agents asked to see the staff's I-9 forms.
The backstory:
ICE agents went into DC restaurants asking to see staff I-9 forms
ICE agents went into Chef Geoff's restaurant and were reportedly asking to see staff I-9 forms.
ICE agents went into Chef Geoff's Restaurant Tuesday morning and asked to see the staff's I-9 forms, sending workers into a panic.
"It's very high anxiety, anxiety-inducing. I think it's really terrible right now that ICE is taking people and sending them away to El Salvador and these other countries to what are basically concentration camps," one D.C. resident, Isa, told FOX 5.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser says she was upset to hear about the reports.
"I have heard those reports. I’ve been getting them all morning. I am disturbed by them. It appears as though ICE is at restaurants, or even at neighborhoods, and it doesn’t look like they’re targeting criminals, and it does look like they’re disrupting," Bowser said.
Nearly a dozen law enforcement and immigration officials wearing DHS uniforms went into Chef Geoff's Restaurant on New Mexico Avenue, Northwest, around 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday.
MORE RELATED NEWS: ICE agents went into DC restaurants asking to see staff I-9 forms
Big picture view:
ICE's visit to Chef Geoff's follows rumors around social media warning that ICE was planning major raids in the D.C. area.
In March, immigration enforcement activity made waves in northern Virginia. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was in Arlington at the beginning of March calling ICE agents "rockstars," claiming they are working to take criminals off the streets. While Noem insists that ICE is only targeting the "worst of the worst" — MS-13 gang members, 18th Street gang members — many advocates argue this is a false pretense, and that innocent people are being caught up in the raids.