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AUSTIN, Tx., April 20, 2026: The Texas Restaurant Association recently launched a coalition of restaurant owners called the Seat the Table. The coalition is asking federal legislators to seek immigration reform to allow longtime undocumented workers to continue working in the restaurant industry. They say that the immigration crackdown has led to businesses losses because workers are not showing up to work and consumers aren\u2019t eating out for fear of encountering an immigration enforcement action.<\/p>\n
The Association\u2019s website<\/a>, states that along with its national partner, the National Restaurant Association, it seeks to expand and protect the restaurant workforce \u201cby advocating for commonsense immigration and temporary work permit reforms.\u201d Likewise, the National Restaurant Association adds on its website<\/a> that \u201cimmigration is essential to the restaurant and food service industry.\u201d In 2025, restaurants faced worker shortages as they struggled to fill nearly 900,000 open jobs, according to the national restaurant group. It adds that restaurants are the country\u2019s second largest employer where more than one of five employees of the nation\u2019s 15.7 million restaurant workers are immigrants.<\/p>\n The restaurant groups say they support \u201ccomprehensive immigration reform that protects long-serving employees, fixes the work-visa system, and builds a modern immigration system for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n According to The New York Times, \u201can estimated 10% of restaurant workers\u201d in Texas \u201care undocumented.\u201d Dallas restaurant owner, Regino Rojas, told the newspaper<\/a> that the national immigration crackdown \u201cis worse than the pandemic.\u201d Austin restaurant owner, Adam Orman, added that although work permits would help, changes in enforcement tactics need to change also, \u201cso that people aren\u2019t afraid to go to work, people aren\u2019t afraid to go spend money.\u201d Texas restaurants employ more undocumented workers than other states, and although high-profile immigration enforcement has not made news headlines, more immigration-related arrests were made in Dallas, Houston and San Antonio since 2025 than in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n The Texas association said that the national immigration crackdown \u201chas created a chilling effect among their workers, regardless of their immigration status.\u201d<\/p>\n The food industry\u2019s Seat the Table coalition<\/a> states that \u201cwork permits for immigrants keep food on the table.\u201d<\/p>\n According to the coalition, food prices have increased 34% since the pandemic. The coalition blames the rise in prices on immigration enforcement that has affected restaurant and agricultural workers. They say that over 809,000 hospitality jobs cannot be filled today because of immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n Co-founder of Farm to Table, Sam Lash, another coalition seeking immigration reform adds that in over 18 years, \u201cthere has never been a time where it is more difficult to access consistent, reliable, skilled labor from immigrants.\u201d<\/p>\n The agricultural and hospitality sectors are not the only economic sectors facing losses due to immigration enforcement in Texas. The South Texas Builders Association complained<\/a> in January that immigration enforcement in Texas is causing labor shortages for home builders. Builders in the Texas valley held a meeting in December complaining that \u201ca lot of business [are] failing\u201d because of the labor shortages they face.<\/p>\n Complaints from the valley Texas association led U.S. Rep. M\u00f3nica de la Cruz (R-TX15) to announce<\/a> that she wants Congress to work on creating a legal pathway for construction workers. El Paso\u2019s Congressperson, Veronica Escobar \u201cco-authored the first bi-partisan, comprehensive immigration reform bill in the U.S. House in a decade,\u201d said her communications director, Abbey Thompson in January. The Dignity Act of 2023 seeks to protect construction and other workers. It is co-sponsored by 15 Democrats and Republicans.<\/p>\n Executive Director of the El Paso Home Builder\u2019s Association, Ray Adauto also told<\/a> El Paso News in January that El Paso\u2019s homebuilders are experiencing rising \u201clabor cost, high material prices, [and] wages.\u201d Adauto added that \u201cimmigration crackdowns are hurting the ability to have cheap labor causing costs to go up for the builder and the consumer.\u201d<\/p>\n Abbott Targets Cities Constraining Immigration Enforcement<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/civis_polls_1.png\")
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Downloadable menu insert graphic provided for advocacy by the Seat the Table coalition, April 18, 2026, Mart\u00edn Paredes\/El Paso Herald Post<\/p>\n