ICE in Chicago: Still Destroying Food People's Lives

Special Sauce with Ed Levine

Host Ed Levine discusses the devastating impact of ICE enforcement operations on Chicago's immigrant communities and local restaurant economies.

Key takeaways

• Chef Carlos Cantatore and his wife Gabby Goddara were detained by ICE at Newark Liberty International Airport while returning from the FIFA World Cup.
• During his detention in Louisiana, Carlos Cantatore reported contracting COVID-19 and losing approximately 30 pounds.
• Marcos Carbajal observes that large-scale raids have been replaced by 'targeted kidnappings' involving masked individuals to avoid public outcry.
• The economic impact of immigration enforcement is seen in decreased consumer confidence and reduced foot traffic in heavily Latino restaurant districts.
• Journalist Ashok Selvam notes the difficulty of reporting on these issues due to the fear of retaliation among restaurant workers.

Main topics

• ICE enforcement operations
• Impact on Chicago's Latino neighborhoods
• Economic consequences for immigrant-owned businesses

Notable quotes

What's happening on the streets is... bleeding into the dining room and screaming at us.

Conclusion

The episode highlights the profound, often invisible, way that federal

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:00) With each passing day, ICE and Trump seem to be testing our ability to accept his administration's wanton cruelty and disregard for the rule of law when it comes to the rights of immigrants. And Speaker 2 (0:15) we seem to Speaker 3 (0:15) pay close attention only to the operations that Trump has blessed with stupid names, like Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago or Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis. What's up with these silly names anyway? They seem like video game names as opposed to real matters of life and death. So we did terrific episodes on those operations in Minnesota, Chicago, and Los Angeles, even though Trump didn't bother to name his L.A. anti-immigration blitz. Special shout out to Zarin Saeed of the Chicago Tribune, Javier Cabral of L.A. Taco, and Sharon Jackson of the Minneapolis Star Tribune for their great reporting. But we don't often pay attention to what happens after these blitzes. I guess because there seems to be an inexhaustible number of atrocities committed daily by the Trump administration. But there are reporters following up on these stories, like Ashok Selvam, a former Eater Chicago editor and one of the employee owners of the new online food publication Ravenous. Ashok recently reported on Carlos Cantatore. an Argentinian chef in Chicago, and his wife, Gabby Goddara, who were both detained by ICE when they landed in Newark to go watch a World Cup game featuring the beloved squad of their home country. Speaker 1 (1:39) He went from Newark, New Jersey, and I believe it was 10 days, to just without warning, they put him on a plane and took him to a detention center in Louisiana. And it was there that he said that he contracted COVID. lost about 30 pounds. There was a line in my story, they put a bag over his head, didn't give him any explanation, put him on a plane, and then when he arrived, that's where they were. And one of the people Ashok interviewed Speaker 3 (2:09) was Marcos Carbajal, owner of the fine taqueria Carnitas Urupan. Some months ago, Marcos had courageously come on Special Sauce to talk about Operation Midway Blitz's effect Speaker 2 (2:22) on immigrant neighborhoods in Chicago. It's a little isolated in the neighborhoods that I'm in. You've definitely seen some closings, but that's the part that strikes me is I go to other parts of town and it's business as usual. It seems like, you know, restaurants are full in West Loop here in Chicago and downtown when I go out on the weekends sometimes and leave the neighborhoods. It's a completely different vibe, completely different tone in the Latino neighborhoods. Speaker 3 (2:54) So here to talk about ICE's continuing presence in the Windy City and the plight of Carlos Cantatore is Ashok Selvam and the aforementioned Marcos Carbajal. I'm Ed Levine, founder of Serious Eats. Back in a moment. Speaker 3 (3:19) Welcome to Special Sauce, Ashok. And Marco, so good to be able to talk to you. Ashok, you wrote a great paragraph that I thought we could lead off with that I can read if you don't have it handy, which really sets the stage for this discussion. You said, ICE continues to seize U.S. residents from all walks of life, subjecting them to reported beatings and other mistreatments while in detention. It could be a tamale vendor from Chicago or a minor league baseball coach in Texas. Asians proceed with what Bovino described to the Chicago Tribune as their legal, ethical, moral mission. Bullshit. Case in point, a chef from a prominent Chicago bar and his wife were detained on Tuesday, July 21st at Newark Liberty International Airport on their way back to Chicago after watching Argentina lose in the FIFA World Cup. Final on July 19th at Giants Stadium. So that sets the stage. We're living this nightmare on a day-to-day basis. And Ashok, how did you come upon the story of Carlos? Speaker 1 (4:30) First of all, thanks for having me on, Ed. You see social media, a lot of nonsense on social media. And one of the things at Ravenous that we're sick of is, you know, all the influencer kind of crap that is kind of shoved down your throat. But every so often you actually see something of substance. And one of my sources, you know, if you have sushi, Mexicans are most likely cooking that sushi and they're really unsung heroes. They started posting about Chef Carlos and Gabby's situation. And I started texting the source who was a little reluctant to chat publicly because of worries and fears of retaliation. And that's a common. thread for a lot of folks in the restaurant world. It's hard to be that voice when you don't have that power. It's something that when I talked to Marcos, we talked about a little bit in our conversation as well, who has the right to talk, who can talk, who has that privilege. And it was really difficult to parse those waters, if you want to navigate that. So, you know, I went back and forth. about the parameters of the story, making sure that we weren't leaving anyone vulnerable. And I started getting a little cold feet as well, because the last thing that you want to do is ruin it for someone. Maybe the consequences of their actions. I hate using that phrase as well. Consequences. Consequences to participate in culture by watching your favorite soccer team. That's the quote-unquote crime you committed? It's ridiculous, but there's a responsibility on my end to make sure that whoever I'm writing about is on as firm ground as possible. So I started to have doubts about the story, but really kind of what cemented it for me is a random text from a friend who had been driving through Wisconsin and talking about how, like, hey, The exact quote was, I feel we're on the back nine of, and I'm paraphrasing, of the Trump administration because they didn't see a lot of campaign and political signage on their trip to Green Bay. So there was this kind of false sense of security. And that's just not what so many folks around the country feel. That's their experience. And my friend has every right to feel that way. But that's not a shared experience. It just motivated me to dig a little bit because restaurants, you know, you see so many folks like, oh, you know, let's have the time of our life while dining and escaping the everyday's plights. And that's wonderful. Restaurants, hospitality has the power to do that. But when the people that are actually responsible for. cooking your meal, serving your meal, procuring those ingredients, growing those ingredients are under such tremendous tension. That's Speaker 3 (7:32) not reality. You're talking about what Marcos experiences probably on a day-to-day basis. And so talk about what your situation is currently, Marcos. What's going on? You've got three places Speaker 2 (7:47) now, right? That's right. We've got three locations. Some of the points Ashok makes are very compelling. You know, in the hospitality business, we're kind of encouraged to put on an act and be in character when we're in these dining rooms and leave behind at the door whatever might be going on past that door and ensure that people have great food, a good experience, great hospitality inside our doors. And this is one of those times where what's happening on the streets is... bleeding into the dining room and screaming at us. And we are at the whim of what is happening at our doorstep now in these neighborhoods. So my restaurants are in Pilsen, Gage Park, and Little Village, which are the neighborhoods that were dead in the crosshairs of Operation Midway Blitz. And we've shifted now from a named operation mainly for show. meant to instill fear into people and, you know, meant to