A worker from a roof company in Bellingham, Washington, who was raided by the application of immigration and customs (ICE) on Friday that the masked agents in tactical teams stuck the property with drawn weapons, stopping three of their relatives and dozens of co -workers.
The worker, an American citizen who requested anonymity because many of his relatives are in the country without the right documentation, said his 21 -year -old brother of Michoacán, Mexico, and two of his cousins were arrested in Wednesday’s raid.
He came to work at his usual time, around 7 am, he said, and “many trucks began to arrive.”
“I started shouting ‘Running, immigration is here!'” He said. “The workers ran to a nearby wooded area, but the ice officers were already waiting for them.”
He described the last time he saw his brother.
“My brother touched my back before starting to run, and I guess that was his way of saying goodbye,” said the man.
More than three dozen employees of Mount Baker Roofing were arrested and taken to the Northwest ice processing installation in Tacoma, the agency said in a statement.
The federal agents executed a search warrant in the ceilings company as part of a criminal investigation into the “illegal employment of foreigners without authorization of legal work in violation of the federal law,” said an ICE spokesman.
The arrested workers had misrepresented their immigration status and presented fraudulent documents or information to obtain employment, said the spokesman, added that federal agents often investigate the violations of the workplace and the exploitation of workers.
The company’s owner, Mark Kuske, said he uses about 85 people and that he had no reason to believe that none of them was in the United States without adequate authorization.
He said he follows all federal and state contracting rules and regulations.
Although the Trump administration initially said that its mass deportation effort would focus on migrants who had committed violent crimes, then changed their policy to include families and children without criminal record, News said previously.
The worker whose brother and cousins were arrested called the unexpected “terrifying” operation and said that the law agents used tactical equipment and masks and carried long rifles. Helicopters and drones could be heard above.
“It was a ugly scene,” he said, adding that the agents had photographs and information about those arrested, whom they approached by name.
The man said that his brother had crossed the border to the United States three years after the members of a drug poster tried to kidnap him.
“I feel terrible. I don’t even want to go to work,” he said. “It hurts to return and see all the belongings of my coworkers still there.
“I still think about the way the officers grabbed them. I feel very bad for my brother because he always depended on me.”
Geovana Pérez, who said that she is the aunt of another detainee, told the NBC News King 5 affiliate in Seattle, that “we feel very sad because many families are being destroyed.”
“We are very sad,” he said in Spanish through a translator. “It’s sad for every family that is going through this.”
Dozens of people celebrated a demonstration on Wednesday after the raid to show their support to the men who were arrested.
“It is wrong to disarm our community, drag parents, children, brothers, relatives of all kinds who pay taxes,” Pauline Black told the station. “They are part of our community. It’s wrong.”
The roof worker said that although he is a American citizen, he is considering returning to Mexico.
“It’s very scary,” he said. “We look out the window of our house when we see that unknown cars pass. It is difficult to live in this way.”
