Immigration reform is a long road. | Photo courtesy of Getty Images
Historically, restaurant companies have been reluctant to get politically involved unless advocacy is central to their brand identity. After all, taking a public stance on controversial topics risks alienating customers.
But that has slowly been changing.
The National Restaurant Association has publicly endorsed immigration reform legislation, The Dignity Act of 2025. The Texas Restaurant Association recently joined the Secure America’s Workforce coalition, which advocates for “sensible immigration reform.”
Even individual executives have taken a stand, like Taziki’s Mediterranean Café CEO Dan Simpson, who has met with Congress representatives in Washington, D.C., to discuss the impact of recent immigration enforcement actions.
The timing is no coincidence. As Congress debates workplace reform and foreign worker protections, and states pursue their own immigration policies, business owners are paying attention to the effect that different pieces of legislation could have on their labor pool and bottom line.
Restaurants are among the nation’s largest employers of immigrant workers—more than one in five restaurant and foodservice employees were born outside the United States, according to the National Restaurant Association. When the flow of immigrants slows, is halted, or stops altogether, the foodservice industry is directly impacted.
“Without immigrants, we just don’t have the people we need to be successful as an industry,” Texas Restaurant Association Chief Public Affairs Officer Kelsey Erickson Streufert said. “The math of running a restaurant has never been harder. We have data showing that if we stick to our current immigration policy playbook, food costs are going to increase even more. [Immigration reform] is one thing that really could make a huge difference to all of those rising costs.”
Although calls for immigration reform come from both sides of the aisle and around the restaurant industry, no one can agree on what exactly that looks like — hence the growing pile of legislation at both the federal and state levels.
These solutions tend to fall under one of three categories: expanding legal pathways for potential immigrants, protecting existing immigrant workers, and holding businesses accountable for enforcing immigration policies. Major pieces of legislation include:
- The Dignity Act of 2025: Endorsed by multiple restaurant associations, including the National Restaurant Association, this bipartisan bill pairs stricter border security and mandatory employment verification with a pathway to legal status for eligible undocumented immigrants that have lived and worked in the United States for years. In July, the Dignity Act surpassed 100 organizational endorsements and has the support of 40 members of Congress but has not yet reached a House vote.
- The State Sponsored Visa Pilot Program Act of 2026: Bipartisan legislation introduced by Sens. John Curtis (R-Utah) and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) in July that would allow individual states to sponsor temporary workers based on regional workforce needs, allowing state governments to issue work visas. This could deepen the labor pool for restaurant operators in need.
- The American Dream and Promise Act: Reintroduced in 2025, this bill would provide Dreamers under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Act (DACA) the opportunity to apply for permanent legal status and eventually become U.S. citizens. It would also cancel the removal of undocumented immigrants who were eligible under DACA, have no criminal record, and were deported. The bill is currently stalled, but bill co-author Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas) recently filed a discharge petition to force a House floor vote.
- The Legal Workforce Act and Mandatory E-Verify Act: Introduced in January 2025 and May 2026, respectively, these bills would similarly require all U.S. employers to check the work eligibility of all potential employees using the E-Verify system created in 996, which is able to verify the immigration status of all employees by checking their Social Security numbers. The former bill is supported by the National Restaurant Association. The bills would also strengthen penalties for businesses that don’t comply.
In addition to these bills, Temporary Protected Status abruptly ended in July for thousands of workers — mostly Haitian migrants — forcing employers to scramble to reverify work authorizations and replace affected employees. Like many of the immigration reforms that have happened over the past couple of years, the end of Temporary Status happened quickly and immediately impacted the restaurant industry workforce.
“When significant numbers of workers are removed from the workforce with insufficient notice, companies do not simply lose headcount; they lose experience, productivity, and operating knowledge,” Phil Kafarakis, president and CEO of IFMA, said. “The effects then move beyond the individual employer and its shareholders. Coworkers absorb additional responsibilities. Suppliers lose orders. Restaurants shorten hours or delay expansion. … Workforce policy morphs from being an immigration issue to one that puts economic resilience and business stability at risk.”
As pieces of legislation are introduced and stalled in Congress, the immigration reform problem continues for employers navigating ongoing labor shortages. Immigration is no longer just a hot-button political issue; it’s increasingly a business issue that operators should be watching closely.
Contact Joanna at joanna.fantozzi@informa.com
