Yes, Restaurant ICE-Free Zones - What's Next?

WASHINGTON - Rezul -- When Chicago issued proclamations establishing so-called "ICE-Free zones," the media largely focused its reporting on "any City-owned property" including at least "parking lots, parks, and libraries" where "federal immigration agents" would not be permitted to enter.

But since a portion of the Chicago proclamation invited "local businesses and community organizations to join the citywide effort to safeguard our communities," public interest law professor John Banzhaf predicted that a similar tactic might be adopted by local business such as restaurants and universities.  It now has, at least in Chicago. . .

It would seem to be the same with regard to other private businesses.  For example, it appears to be generally accepted that restaurants and other businesses can bar people they do not want to serve, provided the discrimination is not based upon protected characteristics such a race, religion, etc. . .

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Recent experience suggests that restaurants can go much further, says Banzhaf, by barring certain categories of people from even entering.   Many restaurants, in fact, do bar entry to anyone not wearing a shirt and shoes, while they cannot bar anyone because of their race or religion.

That's why, for example, restaurants and many private businesses - during the pandemic - were permitted to legally prohibit entry to anyone not wearing a mask.  Similarly, some banks prohibited entry to persons who were wearing masks because of concern about robberies. . .

So it would seem that if a restaurant or other private business posted prominent signs prohibiting entry to ICE agents, the entire restaurant would - just as in all the examples above - no longer be a place where "the general public can go," but rather a place of business to which access is legally restricted (e.g. to ICE agents, just like people with masks in the example above).

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Given all this, it should not be surprising that, as Banzhaf predicted, some restaurants in Chicago have begun posting signs which read "Everyone is Welcome Here, Except I.C.E."
Whether the signs will in fact prevent agents from entering, or provide a legal basis for contesting any arrests on the grounds that the agents were trespassing illegally on the property, remains to be seen.

But it is a new and imaginative use of the law which should at least be tried, says Banzhaf, who has himself made imaginative uses of the law, and who suggests that we might see this new tactic spread from restaurants to university campuses for several reasons, . . .

If universities declare their entire campus to be ICE-free, they will provide even more protection than so-called "sanctuary cities" for those who might be vulnerable.

http://banzhaf.net/ jbanzhaf3ATgmail.com @profbanzhaf