--- title: Anthony Bourdain: Donald Trump Would Hurt Restaurants description: Calls immigrant workers the "backbone of the industry" canonical: https://time.com/4094696/donald-trump-anthony-bourdain/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-30T17:53:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:57.370Z article:section: Politics og:title: Anthony Bourdain Says 'Every Restaurant in America Would Shut Down' if Donald Trump Elected og:description: Calls immigrant workers the "backbone of the industry" og:url: https://time.com/4094696/donald-trump-anthony-bourdain/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb50941238bee913a/69886ef5e20a875156a8dfa3/gettyimages-494864628.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: &lt;&gt; at BookCourt on October 29, 2015 in New York City. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Anthony Bourdain Says 'Every Restaurant in America Would Shut Down' if Donald Trump Elected twitter:description: Calls immigrant workers the "backbone of the industry" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb50941238bee913a/69886ef5e20a875156a8dfa3/gettyimages-494864628.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Anthony Bourdain Says 'Every Restaurant in America Would Shut Down' if Donald Trump Elected > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Oct 30, 2015 5:53 PM UTC  Anthony Bourdain at BookCourt on October 29, 2015 in New York City. Anthony Bourdain at BookCourt on October 29, 2015 in New York City. Mireya Acierto—2015 Mireya Acierto  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Oct 30, 2015 5:53 PM UTC Celebrity chef and CNN host Anthony Bourdain says a Donald Trump presidency would spell disaster for the restaurant industry, which relies heavily on immigrant workers. “If Mr. Trump deports 11 million people… every restaurant in America would shut down,” Bourdain told [SiriusXM radio host Pete Dominick](https://soundcloud.com/siriusxm-news-issues/anthony-bourdain-if-trump-deports-11-million-immigrants-every-restaurant-will-close). The _Parts Unknown_ host hailed undocumented immigrants as the “backbone of the industry,” and noted that in most restaurants he’s worked in, “the person who’d been there the longest, who took the time to show me how it’s done was always Mexican or Central American.” Bourdain said that when he was running his own restaurant, immigrant workers were often more willing to “just start at the bottom” than American workers were. “Never in any of those years… did any American-born kid walk into my restaurant and say, ‘I’d like a job as a night porter, or a dishwasher, even a prep cook,’” he said. Trump has criticized U.S. immigration policy during his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, and has repeatedly promised to deport the millions of undocumented immigrants if he is elected. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4094696/donald-trump-anthony-bourdain/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4094696/donald-trump-anthony-bourdain/"},"headline":"Anthony Bourdain Says 'Every Restaurant in America Would Shut Down' if Donald Trump Elected","datePublished":"2015-10-30T17:53:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:57.370Z","description":"Calls immigrant workers the \"backbone of the industry\"","url":"https://time.com/4094696/donald-trump-anthony-bourdain/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election","Immigration","Restaurant","trump","anthony bourdain"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb50941238bee913a/69886ef5e20a875156a8dfa3/gettyimages-494864628.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Charlotte Alter","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb50941238bee913a/69886ef5e20a875156a8dfa3/gettyimages-494864628.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"<> at BookCourt on October 29, 2015 in New York City.","caption":"<> at BookCourt on October 29, 2015 in New York City.","creditText":"Mireya Acierto—2015 Mireya Acierto","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4094696/donald-trump-anthony-bourdain/","name":"Anthony Bourdain Says 'Every Restaurant in America Would Shut Down' if Donald Trump Elected"}}]}] ```