The manager of a popular downtown Dallas coffee shop quit her job late last week after she said her employer required staff to serve immigration agents and give them a first responder discount.
Margot Stacy was the manager of White Rhino Coffee's downtown location until her recent resignation. She said she saw an increase in the presence of more U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents after the Dallas ICE Field Office shooting last September.
"I had made a shop policy that we don't give discounts to ICE agents,” Stacy said. She told KERA that as a manger, she wanted to be preemptive and protect her staff.
“Most of us[were]all from vulnerable people groups,” she said. “Hispanic, Black, queer, trans, you know, women identifying. That's the group that worked that store.”
Stacy said that there were also migrants who were non-English speaking who would come to the shop and she wanted to protect them too.
“Even if those agents are coming in just as customers, they can come in to scout,” Stacy told KERA.
After she raised a safety concern with management, she was told the agents are “not only welcome at our table, but encouraged to patron our shops by offering them a First Responder discount,” Stacy wrote in asocial media post Friday announcing her resignation.
KERA reached out to White Rhino management but has not received a response. In its own statement on social media, the company addressed the issue, saying: "We have clarified our policy to clearly define who qualifies for our first responder discount and community to all employees that federal agents (including ICE) are not considered first responders under out company policy, therefore should not receive a discount.”
The statement has since been removed and replaced with a second one that did not specifically mention ICE agents.
“This practice started informally with police officers, firefighters, paramedics and even school teachers who came into our first location in Cedar Hill. As we grew, we clarified the policy by stating it applies to local first responders who are on duty, in uniform, and serving the communities in which we are located. We are truly thankful to every public servant regardless of position,” the statement read.
Stacy said there was an emergency meeting involving managers last Thursday to clarify things, although she had been told on numerous occasions to serve and give the emergency response discount to ICE agents, she said.
Stacy said at least 11 other staff members quit that day, calling it an act of solidarity and a tipping point for other concerns such as benefits being taken away and uncompetitive wages.
“They in their own words want to stay apolitical and invite everyone to the table, and what we were saying was, you can't invite everybody to the table,” Stacy said.
“You can't invite people who are trying to destroy the table to the table. They're not here to build community. They are here to destroy communities.”
Stacy’s resignation comes amid ongoing tensions over ICE activity in Minnesota. Border Patrol agents there fatally shot a 37-year-old man over the weekend as he filmed a protest; an ICE officer killed a woman earlier this month.
In early January, a Dallas woman was fired from her job at the Hilton Anatole after she posted a video claiming ICE agents were staying on the property.
Stacy said her main concern now is helping her former colleagues to get jobs. She described the outpouring of support from companies offering support or donations as “overwhelming.”
Priscilla Rice is KERA’s communities reporter. Got a tip? Email her at price@kera.org.
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