Federal immigration officers were criticized by New Jersey officials and immigrant rights activists for carrying out an unauthorized workplace raid on a small firm in the city of Newark.
During a press conference on Friday morning, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka stated that a number of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials went into the rear of the company, took three undocumented employees into custody, and held and interrogated U.S. citizen employees.
“People were fingerprinted. Pictures of their IDs and faces were taken there,” according to the Democratic mayor. “I was appalled, upset, angry that this would happen here in this state, in this country, that this would be allowed.”
Although ICE acknowledged that it carried out “a targeted enforcement operation at a worksite” in Newark, it stated that “this is an active investigation and, per ICE policy, we cannot discuss ongoing investigations” and did not specify the number of individuals arrested as a result of the raid.
President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and his pledges to implement “the largest deportation program in American history” are beginning to take shape, as evidenced by the rise in ICE arrests on Thursday, which coincided with Baraka’s comments.
According to ICE, the agency doubled its daily arrest average on Thursday, making 538 arrests nationwide. The announcement coincides with rumors of alleged immigration raids in Boston and other locations.
At least two other ICE workplace raids have occurred in Newark on Friday, according to Baraka, who verified this in an interview on Friday afternoon. The mayor stated that locations and specifics were still pending.
The seafood distributor in the city, Ocean Seafood Depot, was the target of Thursday’s raid in Newark. According to a witness who talked to Telemundo’s New Jersey television affiliate, WNJU, armed officers in uniform bearing ICE’s initials arrived just before noon.
Even in sanctuary states like New Jersey, immigration agents are typically permitted to visit a business’s public areas; however, they need a legal warrant or the owner’s consent to enter nonpublic parts.
States and sanctuary towns have local laws that restrict their ability to work with immigration officials for enforcement.
The three coworkers that ICE detained had been employed at Ocean Seafood Depot for a few years, according to a worker who was present when the raid occurred.
The employee, who only used her first name, Eugenia, stated, “Everyone’s afraid because we don’t know if this is normal.”
Additionally, Baraka charged that ICE detains both U.S. citizens and unauthorized residents.
A U.S. military veteran “who suffered the indignity of having the legitimacy of his military documentation questioned” was among the captives, according to a statement released by Baraka. “Newark will not stand by idly while people are being unlawfully terrorized.”
In response, ICE stated, “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement may encounter U.S. citizens while conducting field work and may request identification to establish an individual’s identity.” This was also the case during the raid in Newark, the agency added.
The previous administration of President Joe Biden mostly avoided conducting workplace raids, therefore this raid represents a change in U.S. immigration enforcement.
Trump pledged during his presidential campaign to give deportations of foreign nationals who have committed major crimes top priority.
However, working people who happen to be undocumented are typically arrested as a result of workplace raids.
In a statement following the raid, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said his office frequently collaborates with the federal government “to remove violent criminals from our communities and we will continue to do so.” But it’s obvious that President Trump’s declared intention to deport millions of people extends beyond just getting rid of violent criminals.
“Some of the tactics could very well make us less safe, for instance, by making people in our communities fearful of coming forward and reporting crimes,” Platkin stated. No state or local law enforcement personnel participated in the Newark raid, according to his office.
The New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice’s executive director, Amy Torres, stated that her group’s representatives reached the small business after the ICE officials had already departed.
According to Torres during the press conference, they came with lawyers, bilingual paperwork, and interpreters to help the impacted employees. According to her, the majority of workers did not report back to work that day.
ICE agents were “heavily armed” and invaded the company without warning, closing off delivery ramps, exits, and entrances, according to the staff members who remained, Torres claimed. “To make sure nobody was hiding inside, they were pounding on bathroom doors. Most significantly, they accomplished all of this without being able to show a single name or warrant, as the mayor stated.
“ICE has gone beyond what should be permitted by the Constitution,” Torres continued. This gives them permission to profile our communities and convict everyone else by association.
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According to a Thursday night X post by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, ICE has arrested 538 people nationwide, including “illegal immigrant criminals including a suspected terrorist, four members of the Tren de Aragua gang, and several illegals convicted of sex crimes against minors.”
The Guatemalan vice president’s office reported on its Instagram story that at least one deportation flight touched down in Guatemala on Thursday morning. The footage shows a plane carrying migrants who had been deported from the United States.
Eighty Guatemalans, including 31 women, 48 men, and an unaccompanied youngster, returned, according to a news release from the Central American country’s government body, the Guatemalan Migration Institute.
