ICE is arresting migrants in worksite raids. Employers are largely escaping charges.

Boston Globe

17 hours ago

Charging company owners for employing undocumented workers has historically been rare because the government needs to demonstrate that the employer knew of the worker's illegal status. That is a high burden of proof, and investigations can take months. Neither Democratic nor Republican administrations have made worksite raids as much of a priority in the past. The Biden administration halted large-scale immigration arrests at worksites and focused enforcement on employers.
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The raids immigration officers are conducting have largely targeted small businesses such as car washes. Some are carried out in a span of minutes. Two business owners said officers did not show a warrant, even when asked for one, raising questions about whether immigration agents are violating constitutional rights in their effort to drive up migrant arrests.
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'The difference about these raids of the last six weeks is that this is not principally an action against employers,' said Muzaffar Chishti, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute. 'This is principally an action in pursuit of mass deportations. When they could not produce the number of arrests that they had been hoping for, they suddenly said, 'Let's raid employers.' It was not, 'Let's penalize employers.''
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Though the recent raids in Los Angeles outside Home Depots and at a garment factory drew much attention, immigration authorities have conducted enforcement operations in states throughout the country. They arrested 33 workers at construction sites near Ocala, Florida, and 11 at Outlook Dairy Farms near Lovington, New Mexico. The first raid ICE publicized took place at Complete Autowash in Philadelphia eight days after President Donald Trump took office.
Small businesses with limited resources are easier targets than deep-pocketed corporations, immigration experts say. That's because they're less willing to challenge government actions or stir up a public commotion. Though immigration officers need a judicial warrant to enter private areas within a business, they can go into any areas considered publicly accessible, such as the space where customers eat at a restaurant. Nonetheless, two business owners whose companies were raided said armed DHS agents had entered areas restricted from the public.
In February, ICE agents arrived at an auto repair shop outside Philadelphia. They entered a private back office and arrested the entire staff of three workers, said the owner, who spoke on the condition that he and his business not be named because he fears retaliation from the government. One of the workers was deported to Guatemala and another remains in detention, he said.
'It's already hard enough to run a small business,' said the shop owner, an immigrant from Mexico. 'We've barely been open in recent months. This hurt a lot.'
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The owner has faced no charges, fines or further contact from ICE since the raid, he said. But the local Latino community avoids his shop now, and he and his wife have lost sleep worrying whether the business can survive. He also worries that his rights were violated because of ICE's refusal to show a warrant.
DHS did not respond to questions about how many workplace raids have led to charges against employers. In April, ICE announced it had arrested more than 1,000 workers who were in the country illegally during Trump's first 100 days and proposed more than $1 million in fines 'against businesses that exploit and hire illegal workers.'
A Justice Department spokesperson said in a statement that 'under President Trump and Attorney General Bondi's leadership, the Department of Justice will enforce federal immigration laws and hold bad actors accountable when they employ illegal aliens in violation of federal law.'
'An American business'
On June 22, Customs and Border Protection agents in masks, sunglasses, and bulletproof vests pulled up in unmarked cars at Bubble Bath Hand Car Wash in Torrance, California, chasing workers into a car wash tunnel marked with 'employees & clients only' signs.
Video shot by a bystander shows agents pushing one worker's head into a gate. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said he was trying to escape and was not injured.
The car wash owner, Emmanuel Karim Nicola-Cruz, said his requests to see a warrant were repeatedly denied. Security video of the incident obtained by The Post shows an agent pushing
him into the tunnel.
'They weren't answering any of my questions,' Nicola-Cruz said. 'I feel like my rights were 100 percent violated. I feel absolutely, absolutely betrayed. We have American flags all over the property. We're an American business.'
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Seventy miles to the north, in Ventura County, Maureen McGuire, chief executive of the local Farm Bureau, said ICE agents swept through more than a dozen farms and packing houses last month. They arrested multiple workers but left after farmers requested to see proof of judicial warrants, she said.
Those incidents and others have left some small-business owners convinced the worksite operations are aimed at increasing the administration's goal of arresting 3,000 migrants a day - rather than targeting public safety threats or investigating owners engaged in a criminal enterprise.
In several raids, armed officers have been recorded moving in quickly, surrounding workers and questioning them about their immigration status. In other cases, they demand to see an ID. While workers do not have to comply unless agents present a warrant, many do, said Jennifer Martinez, a labor and employment attorney at the Hanson Bridgett law firm in California.
'People cooperate because they are scared,' she said. 'They worry things could get violent.'
Several other tactics have alarmed immigrant and labor rights groups. ICE agents have been serving notices in person that officials are auditing whether a company's employees have permission to work in the United States. Although serving these notices does not give ICE the authority to search and enter private areas of a worksite, agents have intercepted workers attempting to flee after their arrival.
The Trump administration has also asked courts for special warrants that allow immigration officers to enter and search businesses without identifying who they are looking for. These warrants, known as Blackie's warrants, allow immigration officials to seek out undocumented workers without having their names, a typical requirement for judge-issued search warrants.
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Speaking about warrants more broadly, McLaughlin said it was 'not a new practice for ICE' to ask for one without naming specific workers. Blackie's warrants in particular have rarely been used under recent administrations, and some judges have found they fail to meet the requirements of the Fourth Amendment protecting individuals from unreasonable searches and seizures.
'ICE is trying to make an end run around the legal requirements that bind law enforcement, in line with the broader trend of abusing executive powers,' said Jessie Hahn, a senior attorney at the National Immigration Law Center, an advocacy nonprofit.
Car washes and taco trucks
On June 10, ICE conducted a worksite raid of Glenn Valley Foods, a meat production plant in Omaha, as part of an investigation into identity theft, according to a news release. The raid resulted in the arrest of more than 70 people working illegally.
Chad Hartmann, president of Glenn Valley Foods, said in an interview that he was taken by surprise, especially because he said the business had an I-9 inspection this year and participated in E-Verify, an online service designed to help employers confirm work eligibility. Hartmann described hearing a 'loud knock' and said he was handed a federal search warrant as ICE agents entered.
'When they opened the door, you saw armed officials in bulletproof vests … everybody, they've got masks on,' he said. 'It was just shocking.'
Hartmann said DHS later informed him that Glenn Valley Foods would not face charges or fines because it had followed the law. He noted that Rep. Don Bacon (R-Nebraska) described Glenn Valley Foods as a 'victim' but added that 'there's no winner in this.'
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'There's also the victim of the person that got their identity stolen and arguably there's a victim in the family members that are left to figure out how to make ends meet when the family member who is the breadwinner is not able to support them,' Hartmann said. 'There's tragedy all around.'
ICE announced in March that John Washburn, general manager of San Diego Powder & Protective Coatings in El Cajon, was charged with 'conspiracy to harbor aliens' after employing undocumented workers. The Justice Department said this month that Washburn pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 'one year probation and 50 hours of community service.'
The current Trump administration appears on track to exceed the number of worksite arrests made in the initial two years of his first term. The National Immigration Law Center estimated in a 2019 report that more than 1,800 workers had been arrested in worksite raids since 2017.
Immigration advocates also note that Trump commuted the 27-year prison sentence of Sholom Rubashkin, the former chief executive of an Iowa meatpacking plant that was raided under President George W. Bush. (Rubashkin's immigration charges were dismissed, but he'd been convicted of financial fraud.)
The administration has claimed it is going after the 'worst of the worst' and prioritizing the arrest and deportation of people who are a threat to public safety. But former ICE officials said raiding car washes and taco trucks is not an effective strategy for reaching that goal.
'This is the exact opposite,' said John Sandweg, acting ICE director under President Barack Obama. Under the second Trump administration's approach to worksite raids, 'you are much more likely to find non-criminals because professional criminals don't work at car washes, typically.'