As many as 100 people could have been affected, owner and witnesses say
By: Cindy Gonzalez and Aaron Sanderford
Nebraska Examiner
OMAHA — As many as 100 workers suspected of being in the country illegally were ensnared, witnesses said, in what immigration officials said was its largest Nebraska enforcement operation since President Donald Trump took office.
Outside of Glenn Valley Foods, community advocates, including a pastor, said they had seen people being removed from the plant. Some were placed in three 15-passenger vans. Others were loaded onto a bus with boarded up windows and a law enforcement escort.
Witnesses who were afraid to give their names told a reporter they saw family members of workers arrive and try to bring documentation to their loved ones. One didn’t stop when asked to by local officers.
That resulted in a tense moment when a handful of people approached a law enforcement vehicle and some loudly expressed frustration with the scope and scale of the operation. At least two people tried to block the movement of the vehicle and were moved, video footage confirmed.
Workers targeted
Several observers said Glenn Valley was approached by ICE agents Tuesday morning and allowed agents inside the plant.
Gary Rohwer, owner and CEO of Glenn Valley Foods, told Omaha’s WOWT that federal investigators told him 97 employees had false IDs. He said the company had used e-Verify.
Immigration authorities confirmed to a local member of Congress that 75 to 80 people had been detained. Others were being interviewed about related law enforcement concerns.
“They’re good, hardworking, honest,” he said. “They’re part of our family.”
Community leaders said workers have told them they were separating people in the plant they could prove were citizens and those that they couldn’t.
The operations had several local elected Latino leaders visiting various work sites, some South Omaha businesses shutting their doors for the time being and area residents checking in with each other in a frenzy.
Community reacts to raid
Latino leaders tracking the situation, posting about it on social media and speaking with workers said they had heard of up to a half-dozen worksites where federal immigration agents may have visited.
A federal official described the raid at Glenn Valley Foods as likely the largest in Nebraska since Trump took office after promising a massive crackdown on illegal immigration.
“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and federal law enforcement partners, executed a federal search warrant at Glenn Valley Foods, today, based on an ongoing criminal investigation into the large-scale employment of aliens without authorization to work in the United States,” said a statement from Tanya Roman, ICE spokesperson.
She said the investigation is ongoing.
Roman, in a follow-up call with the Examiner, clarified that Glenn Valley was the only Omaha-area operation federal immigration agents carried out Tuesday and that it attempted no others and made no individual arrests at other businesses.
Community leaders began gathering early Tuesday at a South Omaha location, after having heard late Monday of possible enforcement activities ahead.
Roger Garcia, chairman of the Douglas County board, announced during a county board meeting Tuesday morning that he had to leave because his community was “being terrorized.”
“I have to depart,” he said. “As we speak, there’s word of at least two raids happening at this moment, so I have to go. I have to try and help.”
Law enforcement fights rumors
He was among leaders posting in English and Spanish on social media to keep the community informed. Rumors swirled for much of the day about potentially targeted businesses beyond Glenn Valley Foods, including LALA’s and JBS, processing and production plants in the eastern part of the city. A JBS official told the Nebraska Examiner that no raid or immigration agents targeted JBS. LALA officials said they were not targeted and received no visit either.
Later, Garcia, gathering with others on South 24th Street, said he found no redeeming value in the federal action.
“None of this is doing anything to positively help society, but rather is doing the opposite,” he said. “These were individuals that were literally at work, trying to provide for their families, people contributing to our local economy.”
He said a team of community representatives is working to get current information, including what’s next for those detained.
He said at least one trusted source said the source’s mom was taken to Iowa and offered the option to voluntarily deport or to fight the deportation through legal means. He said various community members have stepped up to offer legal services.
Garcia said he’s hearing trepidation that another Nebraska town could be next.
State Sens. Dunixi Guereca and Margo Juarez of South Omaha gathered mid-morning with a half dozen other community representatives on South 24th Street. Guereca pointed at the quiet business corridor, the heart of Nebraska’s largest Latino business district, and said: “This is fear.”
U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., issued a statement Tuesday saying he understood the “concerns” for people’s loved ones and personal safety and said he had “full confidence and expectations” that ICE would operate legally and treat people respectfully. He said his office supports “the rule of law.”
The statement said his office had been told the investigation and warrant being served at the plant concerned “stolen identities.”
Local law enforcement agencies said they were not participating in the federal raids, but that they are providing agents and the public with traffic enforcement around targeted locations, as needed.
”The Department of Homeland Security recently notified OPD of the operations and OPD officers responded to the areas for traffic control,” Omaha Police Lt. Neal Bonacci said in a statement.
Business impacted
Guereca said he was disappointed in the way federal agents carried out the operation, which he said created unnecessary fear for families, customers and merchants.
“Businesses closed their doors. Not only are folks not going to work, they’re not consuming,” he said.
Yesenia Peck, who heads the Nebraska Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, also came to the 24th Street district to check on businesses. As she approached one store, a customer was attempting to open the door, but it was locked.
She said she knew of at least one foreign consulate office based in Omaha, the Guatemalan Consulate, that was sending a representative to an affected worksite.
“Everybody is scared right now. Businesses are closing,” she said. “This is not life…”
Peck said one merchant asked her, “How are we going to pay the bills? Pay rent?”
Martha Barrera, who owns a salon on 24th Street, said her workers have continued to accept customers, but she said people are in panic mode about what is happening outside the doors. She said she is happy that community leaders have offered information on rights and how to respond if federal agents were to come to her business or any others.
She and others on the business corridor said their stores rely on Latino families and are worried about future commerce.
Peck said she understands there are laws and people must abide by those.
“But this is not the way it should be done,” she said. “Not cruelly.”
“What is happening right now is unbelievable. I’ve seen this kind of thing in other countries,” she said, including her homeland of Peru. “It’s just not the right way.”
Protests gather
Meanwhile in Lincoln, an impromptu protest with roughly 20 people marched near the State Capitol as a result of federal immigration enforcement.
Peaceful protests were developing elsewhere in Omaha, too, including an “Omaha Stands with Immigrants rally.”
Hundreds protested the federal immigration operation, lining both sides of L Street near 33rd at the dinner hours. Signs and chalked sidewalks offered sentiment: “Undocumented hands feed you.” “F— ICE.” “Keep families together” “Abolish ICE.”
An Omaha Tribal group led chants, crossing back and forth at crosslight. “No fear, no hate, no ICE in our state.”
A woman in purple plastic boots held a yellow “immigrants welcome here” sign and banged a gong, saying, “It’s the loudest thing I own.”
Others passed out “know your rights” information packets. There was no shortage of honks from passer by motorists.
Jaqueline Chino walked up to the chanting crowd and stood on a light pole base, with her handmade sign: “Families belong together.”
Asked by a reporter what brought her to the event, she said her dad was deported when she was 5 years old.
Her mom raised her family alone, as her dad is in Guerrero, Mexico.
“I know the pain,” she said. “Growing up without a father figure is very hard for a girl.”
Another gathering on South 24th Street drew about 25 people.
Said Anna Hernandez, an organizer: “Obviously we can’t do anything at the worksites. But we can show that this is our community and this is breaking up our families.”
She said people are reaching out to community members seeking ways to demonstrate support. “There are children who will be forever affected by this.”
Mayor, advocates weigh in
Mayor John Ewing Jr., on his second official day in office, released a statement saying that his office had been alerted that some sort of immigration action would take place on Tuesday, though was not “privy to details.”
He noted that he had asked ICE for a heads-up courtesy on enforcement activities, following the ICE-led arrest over the weekend at a west Omaha restaurant that disturbed patrons and others as it circulated widely on social media.
“I am trying to get to the bottom of what happened today,” Ewing said in a statement. “We know that actions like these affect families. My administration is working with community groups to understand the scale of need.”
Ewing said he knows the ICE actions caused fear. “We do not want people to be so afraid they stop reporting crimes. Our Omaha Police Department will respond to 911 calls and not ask about legal status.”
He reiterated that the city was not in the business of immigration enforcement, and said it was the federal government leading that charge.
“Our Omaha police officers do not and will not seek individuals to check their legal status,” Ewing said. “OPD was on scene today to assist in traffic control and public safety in areas near their operations.”
Saul Lopez, of LULAC National, was headed with other community members to pass out information about worker rights at workplaces and said a concern was for parents who might be separated from children.
“We’re very worried right now about what’s going on with the families.”
A leader of an Omaha nonprofit that works with youths said Tuesday that the organization has been working to identify families whose working parent may have been detained and separated from their children.
So far, the organization’s leader said at least two kids in their care who are from two different families have a parent caught up in the operations. The organization was busy getting a hold of emergency contacts for the kids.
Also Tuesday, immigration advocates and community leaders had turned a South Omaha organization into a sort of information headquarters to better understand and coordinate legal, outreach and response activities.
Also among the elected officials gathered at the South Omaha hub was Yanira Garcia of the Omaha Regional Metropolitan Transit Board and Omaha City Councilman Ron Hug.
Examiner reporter Juan Salinas II contributed to this report.