PALATINE, Ill. (WGN) – Recent federal immigration enforcement at Chicago area restaurants has at least one of them saying it will close.
Judith Martinez and her husband own Chappie’s Cafe in Palatine. They’ve made the difficult decision to close their restaurant after four years in business.
Within the past month, ICE agents have been at Chappie’s Cafe twice. During the first incident, they reportedly went inside the cafe and questioned customers from a landscaping company eating breakfast.
“They were asking them for their papers, legal status some identification their boss was with them and pretty sure if it wasn’t for him they would take them,” Martinez said.
A week later when their front door was locked, Martinez said ICE agents came to the back door.
“They get out of the vehicle. I was waiting for them and asked, ‘How can I help you? Why are you here?’ They said, ‘I need to see your ID, passport and your legal status in this country,” Martinez said.
The agents left both times, but the word has spread.
Latino customers make up nearly half of their business, and the fear is taking a toll.
“The business itself dropped income about 60% in total since this started to happen,” Martinez said. “We don’t want to expose diners, customers, friends, employees, ourselves; it’s not worth it.”
“That’s another reason I wanted to stop in today, to help support the business. They’re really lovely people and they don’t deserve this,” Chappie’s Cafe customer Ray added.
The cafe plans to close on Sunday, Nov. 2.
Also, at around 9 a.m. Monday, outside the Metropol Bar and Grill on North Lincoln Avenue in Chicago’s North Center neighborhood, federal agents took 61-year-old cook Wilson Vera into custody while he was on his way to work.
“They didn’t ask him any questions, or didn’t really speak to him, and had just like, grabbed him and pushed him into the vehicle,” Wilson’s daughter Johanna Vera said.
Johanna, a student at Northeastern University in Boston, was in class at the time and found out about what had happened when she checked her father’s cell phone location several hours later.
“I noticed that his location had been pinged to the Broadview Detention Center, and that’s when I had looked it up just to make sure, like, why is he over there?” Johanna said.
Wilson moved to Chicago from Ecuador in the 1980s. He was able to call his family later that night.
“I had asked where they were taking him. They said that they’re transferring him to North Lake in Detroit, Michigan, late last night,” Johanna said.
It’s the latest incident impacting those in the restaurant industry.
“It’s hurting sales, employees; our small independent restaurants are the backbone of every community,” Illinois Restaurant Association CEO Sam Toia said.
Meanwhile, Wilson’s family said he was undocumented but he did not have a criminal background. They fear he will be deported back to Ecuador.
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