Leer en español: 37 trabajadores son detenidos en redada de ICE el miércoles en Mt. Baker Roofing
Federal immigration enforcement officials detained 37 workers at Mt. Baker Roofing in Bellingham Wednesday morning.
Tomas Fuerte, who has worked at Mt. Baker Roofing for 12 years, said they took the detained people away in two buses. He said he’d never witnessed a raid before. Officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations and Customs and Border Patrol arrived at the business’s warehouse on Thomas Road around 7:30 a.m. April 2.
“They (law enforcement) arrived wielding their guns like they were going to shoot us, like we were criminals,” Fuerte told Cascadia Daily News in Spanish. “They corralled us into a room in the back of the building. They had a list and pictures of everyone who was undocumented and took them away.”
David Yost, an ICE spokesperson, said the officers were executing a federal search warrant “based on an ongoing criminal investigation into the unlawful employment of aliens without legal work authorization in violation of federal law.”
The 37 people arrested had “fraudulently represented their immigration status and submitted fraudulent documents and/or information to seek employment,” Yost said in an email.
An officer on scene told CDN that the workers detained will be taken to Tacoma or Tukwila Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities.
A statement from Mt. Baker Roofing Wednesday afternoon said the company was “fully cooperating with the authorities while also ensuring that our employees are treated fairly and respectfully under the law.”
“Our top priority remains the well-being of our team members and the continued service to our customers,” the statement read, adding that the roofing company is committed to “upholding ethical business practices and complying with all local, state and federal regulations.”
CEO Mark Kuske said many of the people detained worked for the company for years as “tax-paying employees,” and they all actively supported the community by helping to build homes.
“Looking beyond the personal impact, we cannot ignore the larger implications of today’s events,” Kuske said in the statement. “Policies like the enforcement action carried out today directly harm small businesses like ours, making it increasingly difficult to operate and further inflating the prices paid by consumers.”
Diocelina Nuñez, the mother of one of the detained workers, said Wednesday morning that no one had shared any information with her on her son’s whereabouts. Like many others waiting on the side of the road, she’d spent part of her morning outside the roofing company’s warehouse waiting for answers.
“They took my son,” she said in Spanish. “He’s been here 11 years, he’s 35 years old … I’ve been here for 10 years, I’m here legally under asylum. My son came here to get away from the crime in Mexico but he’s not here legally.”
Nuñez said her son’s wife is pregnant. As law enforcement officers left the scene, she complained, saying she’d been told she’d have some answers before they left.
Laura Baldovinos was at Mt. Baker Roofing on Wednesday morning. Her family friend was detained, a 19-year-old who she said is currently going through the asylum process.
Baldovinos said he moved from the Mexican state of Guerrero, fleeing violence there, and has been in the U.S. for less than a year.
“I just want to make sure they don’t get aggressive with the people who are here, and making sure we get their belongings,” she said outside the facility.
Immigration enforcement departed the facility just before noon. Families and friends who were waiting then went into the office of Mt. Baker Roofing with Kuske.
Edgar Franks, the political director of local farmworker union Familias Unidas por la Justicia, said the detention of activist Alfredo “Lelo” Juarez Zeferin last week, and now this, is creating an “even more tense situation for workers.”
“It seems like just regular, everyday people who are at work are the ones being targeted,” Franks said. “It’s not just adults that were affected, there are kids involved that will be without mom or dad or one of their parents.”
Liz Darrow, the participatory democracy program coordinator with Community to Community, said this escalation in enforcement from ICE “causes panic.”
“It’s so heartbreaking that people can’t go to work or school or the grocery store without being afraid,” she said.
Franks said it’s clear even people who are following the rules are at risk.
“We hope that our governor or attorney general or legislators can intervene somehow,” he said. “Ultimately this is a political issue that needs leadership to have it resolved.“
This story will continue to be updated.
Charlotte Alden is CDN’s general assignment/enterprise reporter; reach her at charlottealden@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 123.
