San Francisco

San Francisco Restaurant Designates Itself ‘Sanctuary,' Trains Community on Legal Rights

Activists and business leaders gathered in San Francisco to show support for so-called "sanctuary restaurants."

The movement is led by the Golden Gate Restaurant Association (GGRA), a trade association representing 1,000 San Francisco restaurants. GGRA says many restaurants are staffed by immigrants and are now working to train restaurant workers on their legal rights.

Nati Ramirez, owner of Don Ramon's restaurant, said that as fear surrounding ICE raids and anti-immigration rhetoric grows, she is taking steps to educate her community about their rights.

"We need to go forth and educate the immigrants that are workers at any businesses here in San Francisco so they're not frightened to go out in the evenings and think that ICE will be out there to catch them," Ramirez said.

The GGRA announced Friday it will be sponsoring a workshop for any restaurant owners and employees in the city fro 9 to 10:30 a.m. on March 20 at Don Ramon’s Restaurant, 225 11st Street.

"The goal of the workshop is for restaurants to learn how to protect their workers and customers in the face of increasingly anti-immigrant policies coming from the Trump Administration," GGRA said in a statement regarding the "Know Your Rights" workshop.

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