ICE Agents Target DC Restaurants With I-9 Audits
Ross O'Keefe, Washington Examiner, May 6, 2025
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents visited at least four Washington, D.C., restaurants on Tuesday.
The establishments included Millie’s, Ghostburger, Chang Chang, and Central Michel Richard, the Washington Examiner learned. ICE reportedly visited several others, too, such as Chef Geoff’s, in a wave of immigration enforcement across the city.
An ICE spokesperson told the Washington Examiner on Wednesday that agents served more than 100 notices of inspections during their recent visits to various businesses, including restaurants.
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District Mayor Muriel Bowser confirmed that immigration agents had been contacting people in the area earlier in the day. “I have heard those reports. I’ve been getting them all morning. I am disturbed by them. It appears that ICE is at restaurants or even in neighborhoods, and it doesn’t look like they’re targeting criminals,” Bowser told reporters.
She said the investigations do not involve local police.
A manager at Ghostburger, David Utter, told the Washington Examiner that agents stopped by the restaurant on Tuesday at about 3:30 p.m. and dropped off an I-9 notice of inspection form, which stated that they have “until a certain day to submit our I-9 verifications for the employees that work for the company.”
He also said it was the first time in his nearly 10 years in the restaurant industry that he saw something like that. The agents noted they didn’t need to come in or talk to anyone, Utter recounted, and none of them appeared armed.
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