--- title: A Day Without Immigrants: José Andrés Takes on Donald Trump description: Chef Jose Andres is closing five of his restaurants to support A Day Without Immigrants, and tells TIME about his law suit with Trump. canonical: https://time.com/4672858/day-without-immigrant-strike-jose-andres/ author: Ashley Hoffman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-16T15:41:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:47:34.662Z og:title: 'We Cannot Be Taken for Granted.' José Andrés on a Day Without Immigrants og:description: "We are here because America needs us in the same way we need America" og:url: https://time.com/4672858/day-without-immigrant-strike-jose-andres/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3353fdc5f9cbf6ba/698769bf3c1639543b45013d/jose-andres.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4901 og:image:height: 2757 og:image:alt: Jose Andres og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'We Cannot Be Taken for Granted.' José Andrés on a Day Without Immigrants twitter:description: "We are here because America needs us in the same way we need America" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3353fdc5f9cbf6ba/698769bf3c1639543b45013d/jose-andres.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'We Cannot Be Taken for Granted.' Chef José Andrés on a Day Without Immigrants > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME The Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition The Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The day's top headlines, curated by TIME editors. The Brief brings TIME's perspective to the day's most important stories, helping readers understand not just what is happening, but why it matters. It combines original reporting and analysis with the best of TIME, spanning politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ## Video: How the Restaurant Industry Could Change the World [Watch (HLS stream): How the Restaurant Industry Could Change the World](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/P7q1o0oD.m3u8) (4:54)  _Published 2016-04-19. Three culinary trailblazers talk about the future of the restaurant industry_ by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Feb 16, 2017 3:41 PM UTC  Celebrity Chef and Restaurateur Jose Andres photographed at Minibar in Washington, D.C. on May 01, 2014. Celebrity Chef and Restaurateur Jose Andres photographed at Minibar in Washington, D.C. on May 01, 2014. Marvin Joseph—The Washington Post/Getty Images by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Feb 16, 2017 3:41 PM UTC The nation’s [immigration](http://time.com/4669479/immigration-raids-donald-trump-enforcement/) debate might be coming to a corner booth near you. Workers across America are taking the day off on Thursday for [“A Day Without Immigrants,”](http://time.com/4672434/delphi-indiana-teens-donald-trump-andy-puzder/) a grassroots protest of [President Donald Trump](http://time.com/4672974/donald-trump-white-house-chaos/)‘s immigration policies. Some restaurants are joining the effort and shutting down for the day to spotlight how immigrants fuel business, and five are Spanish celebrity chef [José Andrés’](http://time.com/collection-post/4080585/jose-andres-food-haiti/) restaurants in Washington, D.C. “It’s a way to say we love this country, and we want to show you that we are contributing to this country,” Andrés told TIME. Andrés estimated he will sacrifice $100,000 in revenue for the day, and that immigrant workers — the vast majority of them Latino — make up 65% of his staff. [He hopes Thursday’s slashed labor force](http://time.com/3595356/jose-andres-time-for-thanks/) will convince both Republicans and Democrats in Congress to recognize the economy’s heavy dependency on people he feels are “ghosts in the system.” An American citizen since 2013, Andrés first came to Pensacola, Fla., where the Castillo flag greeted him at high mast in 1991\. He’s no stranger to uncertainty facing foreign-born people in the U.S., but he feels Trump is sparking panic in Latino communities by [urging ICE raids on](http://time.com/4672975/emotional-divide-trumps-presidency/). “All these raids used to happen, but now all of a sudden, immigrants feel under attack and prosecuted in their neighborhood,” he said. According to the most recent [Bureau of Labor Statistics](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/forbrn.pdf) report, of the 12.7 million employees in the restaurant workforce, 1.4 million are immigrants. Most U.S. farm workers are immigrants — many undocumented — according to a [survey undertaken by the USDA](https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/farm-economy/farm-labor/background.aspx#migrationpatterns). “We all celebrate the best moments of our lives over food at the table linked to immigrants, and we don’t want pity. We want respect,” he said. But the day is personal for another reason. Andrés is [embroiled in a multi-million dollar legal fight](http://fortune.com/2015/08/19/spanish-chef-trump-lawsuit-crowdfund/) with the President. Once Trump kicked off his presidential campaign with [disparaging remarks](http://time.com/3923128/donald-trump-announcement-speech/) for Mexican immigrants in 2015, Andrés backed out of a deal to open a Spanish restaurant plugged into the Trump International Hotel in Washington in 2016. “When he called Mexicans rapists, it was very obvious that my business couldn’t survive with this rhetoric,” Andrés said. And he has a message to deliver to Trump from immigrant workers: “We are here to give back everything we were given, but we cannot be taken for granted. We are here because America needs us in the same way we need America.” ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] You're a celebrity chef. I don't know what celebrity. I go home my mother makes me wash dishes so I don't call this celebrity. [ MUSIC ] The restaurant in the street is literally the worst employer in the United States. We were making ourselves sick by the foods that we eat While a lot of the world is becoming sick from the food that they don't eat. [ MUSIC ] What do restaurants rally represent in terms of almost a culture of status of where we are today and where we can grow. To me the restaurant industry represents unfortunately the floor of our economy. It's the nation's largest and fastest growing sector of the US economy and yet happens to be the absolute lowest paying floor in the United States literally and statistically. The vast majority of the industry provides the absolute lowest paying jobs in the country. So it's not So a bad employer is literally the worst employer in the United States. I see that change is happening from the bottom up. And I do sincerely believe the minimum wage has to happen in America. But it has to happen from the top bottom. People want our respect. How do we give them respect? Is to pay them what they deserve. Well, I've seen such hope also that the restaurant industry itself becoming a beacon for cultural issues. The quality of food, where our food comes from. The economic multipliers. How are farmers paid. How are farm laborers paid. Food has really become. As you've used so effectively a political tool for real driving and motivating real change. To me, a restaurant is a place that somebody cooks and feeds, so that means every household technically is a restaurant. Today we have hundreds of millions of women cooking everyday around the world, especially in the third world. One of the issues I see today is that those womans are cooking with charcoal and [ UNKNOWN ] rocks, as we used to do thousands of years ago. If we bring clean cookstoves to every household in our lifetime, in the 21st century, we will end poverty and hunger. I think you're absolutely right. The vast majority of people cooking around the world are women. Very poor women. And not getting paid. And not getting paid. So that's the minimum of the minimum wages. [ LAUGH ] That's true. That's the worst. But [ UNKNOWN ] very much, if he's using the right way, it's an amazing way to solve many of the issues we face in this country and around the world. Unfortunately we have politicians that [ UNKNOWN ] It's never in their vocabulary. You sound like you're running for office. The horizon of hope, food pragmatism. When I first started working in your restaurant, that was the first time that I as a chef was taught that I could be more than in the sum of the ingredients that I put on my plates. Add in our lobsters and I always add them in head first. I mean what better hospitality is there. I mean I can give you a plate or arugula or organic kale or we can give you a chance at a job and a life and taking care of your family and pride and respect. That is something that is worth doing. At the end what we see is that the challenges even in a humble glass of water, a clean glass of water, forget anything else, it's a challenge that we need start seeing how this becomes a true opportunity. How we bring the water to the people. Paying the workers behind it, right? How do we do it taking care of the environment, how do we do it taking care of, and this is a fascinating world we live in, that everything is a huge challenge. But at the same time, is an enormous opportunity to change things for the better. To me, that's what it's all about, everybody from the fishermen in the [ UNKNOWN ] [ INAUDIBLE ] To the dishwasher at your restaurant are all professionals. They're highly skilled people. They have creativity and insight. And I think if we as a nation and an industry can start recognizing everybody, from the farm worker to the restaurant worker, as professionals that they are. Food can and should be an agent of change of the many issues we face. Mm- hm. So, something that's changed. All of a sudden, people are paying attention to us. We've got books. Do you like that plug for the book? Nice. We've got people paying attention to us in ways that never existed before. Food has now become almost its own language, its own sort of subculture through which people identify with each other. That you know to me has opened up exciting new avenues of relationships. Using food to sustain people. Not just talking about sustainability of food, but really asking ourselves what are we trying to sustain ultimately? And that's the nature of cuisine. Ever adapting. Always moving forward. Okay people, what is next? ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4672858/day-without-immigrant-strike-jose-andres/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4672858/day-without-immigrant-strike-jose-andres/"},"headline":"'We Cannot Be Taken for Granted.' 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