Nearly a week after Cafe Septieme owner Victor Santiago fired Vance Wolfe, the longtime manager of the popular Broadway bar and cafe, for giving employees a day off to attend last week's immigration rally, the impact on Septieme's business was still unclear, although numerous regulars said they were no longer spending money at the restaurant. Amanda Zumwalt, a waiter who marched alongside Wolfe at the May 1 immigration rally, said she had "only made about half of what I usually make" last week, adding, "I've seen a lot of regulars walk by and not come in."

On Sunday, business was noticeably slower than usual, with just four diners holding down the restaurant. Last week Santiago said he now "regrets" his decision to fire Wolfe because it earned him and his restaurant so much bad publicity. "I never thought my own people would go against me," he said. "It's on my head, [but now] we have to move on." Wolfe, for his part, says he does not want his job back.

As for the immigration march, Santiago said he did "support it," but added, "I have to do my best to keep my business running." If "your manager doesn't do what he's supposed to do every week, you have to fire him," Santiago said. (Although Septieme was closed May 1, Santiago's Mexican restaurant, La Cocina y Cantina, remained open.)

Santiago has a personal interest in supporting immigration rights: He came to Washington State as an illegal migrant farm worker in the 1980s. In 1986, Santiago moved to Seattle, working as a dishwasher and gaining his U.S. citizenship under an amnesty program signed into law by Ronald Reagan that year. In 2001, he bought La Cocina, and in 2004, he bought Septieme.

Last week, Wolfe—who was also featured in the P-I, on the AP wire, and in newspapers as far away as Ecuador after The Stranger broke the story May 1—called it "strange that somebody who's Mexican, who's a business owner, doesn't support immigration rights." Santiago countered that he did "support the immigration march," but couldn't close his business because "my livelihood depends on it." Several of Santiago's employees, including Zumwalt, said they were looking for other jobs, because they expected "long-term ramifications," in Zumwalt's words, for the restaurant's business. Meanwhile, a protest scheduled for Saturday at Septieme failed to materialize, indicating that the imbroglio over Wolfe's firing might be nearing an end.