--- 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: 2026-02-22T12:14:06.691Z 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=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 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=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Anthony Bourdain Says 'Every Restaurant in America Would Shut Down' if Donald Trump Elected  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":"2026-02-22T12:14:06.691Z","description":"Calls immigrant workers the \"backbone of the industry\"","url":"https://time.com/4094696/donald-trump-anthony-bourdain/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic","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"}}]}] ```