Anthony Bourdain: 'Every restaurant in America would shut down' if Donald Trump elected president

Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain has become the latest in the restaurant industry to show his dislike for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his controversial position on illegal immigration. During a recent interview on SiriusXM's StandUp With Pete Dominick, Bourdain defended undocumented immigrants in the US and took a shot at The Donald.

The TV host of several cooking and traveling shows said he has been in the industry for 30 years and says its backbone has always been Hispanic employees. "I came out of, like a lot of other white kids, I rolled out of a prestigious culinary institute and went to work in real restaurants. I walked into restaurants and always, the person who had been there the longest, who took the time to show me how it was done, was always Mexican or Central American. The backbone of the industry — meaning most of the people in my experience cooking, preparing your food."

Bourdain continued by adding that in his 20 years as a food industry employer, he witnessed foreign-born Hispanic employees take the jobs their American-born counterparts would not. "Never, in any of those years, not once, did anyone walk into my restaurant — any American-born kid — walk into my restaurant and say I'd like a job as a night porter or a dishwasher. Even a prep cook — few and far between. Just not willing to start at the bottom like that," he said.

According to Eater, Bourdain would go on to say that if Trump won the general election and fulfill his promise to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants in the US, "every restaurant in America would shut down." He continued that other restaurant owners agree with him because "they'd be up the creek ... It is really, really getting hard to find people to do the jobs." Bourdain added that Trump's plan to build a wall along the US-Mexico border is "ridiculous".

It is not the first time the Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown host spoke out against the GOP candidate. In June, Bourdain told the Asbury Park Press: "He offends me." The comments were made shortly after his show featured a visit to Atlantic City. He is also not the first in the industry to stand up to Trump over immigration.

Eater reported that fellow celebrity chefs José Andrés and Geoffrey Zakarian both pulled their restaurants from Trump's new Washington DC hotel. Both men are countersuing the real estate mogul after he sued them for pulling out of their restaurant deals.