“We understand there is a lot of fear and anxiety in our community regarding immigration-related enforcement,” AAPD chief Andre Anderson said in a statement on Monday. If anything, that underestimated the emotion that swept through the Ann Arbor restaurant community last weekend. 

In emails and social media posts, rumors flew that the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency, known as ICE, swept through downtown Ann Arbor restaurants on Saturday, seeking undocumented employees. According to the message traffic, ICE was said to have visited at least four restaurants, while a fifth supposedly closed temporarily upon hearing that ICE agents were nearby.

In his statement, Anderson confirmed that ICE “made contact with one business in downtown Ann Arbor over the weekend. We have no information to suggest that this was a raid. In fact, no arrests were made.”

He said ICE did not notify the AAPD before the visit, “and they are not required to do so. The AAPD did not provide assistance.”

The business, whose name was among those rumored to have been visited by ICE, did not comment. AAPD spokesperson Chris Page declined comment beyond the chief’s statement. 

The ICE visit came amid enforcement efforts by the Trump administration nationwide. According to NBC News, initial ICE raids were targeted in New York and Chicago. The Washington Post reported that ICE’s twenty-five field offices, including the one in Detroit, were told in a meeting with senior leadership over the weekend to step up their “routine operations” to meet a quota of 1,200 to 1,500 arrests per day.

Based on 2022 census data, the National Restaurant Association estimates that 21 percent of U.S. restaurant workers that year were born in another country. That works out to almost 3.3 million people, the New York Times reports, who were legally authorized to work in the US.  The Times cites a 2024 estimate by the Center of Migration Studies that another 1 million undocumented immigrants work in American restaurants.

Washtenaw County Commissioner Yousef Rabhi, who has condemned ICE actions in the past, says he doubts the AAPD got the full picture, and urges continued vigilance.

 “I can’t believe they would drive all the way to Ann Arbor to visit one business,” Rabhi told the Observer. “This is not a time to downplay what’s happened. I don’t want there to be a culture” where employees and businesses are afraid to speak up about enforcement actions.

Meanwhile, U-M leaders sent a communitywide email Tuesday offering guidance for how to respond if ICE officials appear on campus. Agents can lawfully be anywhere the public is permitted but must have warrants to enter private or protected areas. The email instructs people not to interfere but to document what they see if they are able and to call U-M police at (734) 763-1131. Anyone presented with a subpoena or warrant should not accept it without calling U-M’s Office of the General Counsel at (734) 764-0304.