In a restaurant on rue Valencia, an employee knows exactly what he would do if an ice agent approached his business. He guides me through a difficult plan of subtle communication and moves his colleagues – a group of people travels to the back of the company, another group launches a distracting conversation to allow his colleagues at risk enough to escape the arrest.
In a neighboring cafe, the owner underlines private rear cuisine, where she notes that ice officers cannot enter without a mandate. A barista in another cafe said that its director had removed each employee to tell them how to prepare for an ice visit.
“The feeling is not good,” said Melody ruelas, owner of Sisters Coffee Shop on Valencia Street.
Recent ice arrests in San Francisco have local businesses and merchant associations on possible risks for their customers and staff. In response, commercial associations, which represent restaurants, bars and stores, said they were preparing their members for ice meetings.
Some have hosted rights to teach managers and employees how to respond to the presence of glacial agents in a legal framework. At least two business associations have sent update information this week on how to prepare immigration implementation measures at the workplace.
Closed posters on the windows of companies from top to bottom of the most frequented corridors of the mission share the hotline number of the San Francisco quick response network – (415) 200-1548 – to report ICE activity in an orange live lettering. In English and Spanish, the posters are directly on how to manage a meeting with ice: do not open the door. Do not answer questions. Don’t sign anything.
“Our business owners are so busy trying to keep their businesses afloat that they need this additional support, this network,” said Susana Rojas, executive director of Calle 24said. “Business associations, merchant associations and even neighborhood groups, non -profit organizations, groups of volunteers, everyone has a place at the moment to keep our city together.”
A owner of a larger restaurant and a director of a group of restaurants said they had consulted the lawyers on what to do if the immigration agents approached their business. If one of his employees was detained, the two said that the restaurant lawyers would come to defense the staff.
This month, Mission Local confirmed 22 Ice Arrests in San FranciscoAll at the downtown Ice office and San Francisco Immigration short. San Francisco is a sanctuaryThis means that the city limits the way it will cooperate with ice or will provide information that ice requires.
Calle 24An organization that works with traders and residents of the Mission Historical Arts district, distributed red boxes At the beginning of the year, the size of business cards and contain information on how to resist research and seizure and self-incrimination, as protected by the American Constitution. “These cards are available for citizens and non-citizens,” reads the cards, which were visible and available for distribution on the counters of several companies visited by local mission this week.
Rojas said local businesses had been shaken by telephone calls from false targeted alerts. These calls can encourage a business to close the day, but this is a double -edged sword. Any closure can point out to the application of immigration that people working in this company are concerned with ice.
Several catering workers interviewed by Local Mission repeated a rumor that Ice was 16th and mission near Bart station on Monday, which was false. A clothing store owner had closed his store this weekend in response to rumors on ice in the region. The business has since been slow.
“When they hear information like this, the first step should go to a source of confidence before sharing it online or closing their business,” said Rojas. She ordered people to call the Quick response network hotline – (415) 200-1548 – To report the activity of the ice or check the rumors on the raids.
Ryen Motzek, the chairman of the board of directors of Association of mission merchants Who owns two companies in the mission, compared the level of fear and uncertainty in small businesses at the moment at the height of the cocovid-19 pandemic, when restaurants have contained household orders, a closed city and close finances. The association organized Know Your Rights Training for its members and plans to create a hotline to share updates on ice in the region.
“Whoever has an ounce of empathy feels very unstable at the moment,” he said. “We are here to support small businesses, and when their staff feels threatened, when their owners feel threatened, whatever their status, it is worrying.”
Avi Ehrlich, the owner of Silver gable and vice-president of Association of Valence Corridor merchantssaid that the speed of developments had made it difficult for the association to immediately provide detailed information to its members. However, companies in Valence Corridor Merchants Association have collaborated to print posters and distribute stickers on resources during meetings with the application of immigration.
Ehrlich said that the independent spirit and small businesses in Valencia has enlightened the local response to the threat of immigration application.
“None of us is said by the company what we are allowed to do or what we are not allowed to do,” said Ehrlich. “It is comforting to see our community group together to say that it is something that we do not agree.”
Additional reports by Jordan Montero