Immigration authorities raided at least one Omaha meat production plant Tuesday morning, inspiring some small protests, but details about how many workers were affected weren’t immediately clear.
Omaha police and the Douglas County sheriff said immigration officials had warned them about their plans, and their departments helped block off traffic around the neighborhood where many food production plants are located while U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers worked.
Meatpacking plants rely heavily on immigrant workers who are willing to do the physically demanding work. The industry has not yet been the focus of President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement efforts, but the administration has been intensifying its efforts in recent weeks. Trump called out the National Guard this week to respond to ongoing protests in Los Angeles over his immigration policies.
In Omaha, a small group of people came out to protest the raids, and some of them even jumped on the front bumper of a vehicle to try to stop officers in one location while others threw rocks at officials’ vehicles as a white bus carrying workers pulled away from a plant.
Glenn Valley Foods officials didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry from The Associated Press, but WOWT reported that CEO and owner Gary Rohwer said he wasn’t made aware of the operation ahead of time and that there was no warrant.
“Of course not. It’s a raid,” said Rohwer, whose company makes the Gary’s QuickSteak brand of ready-to-grill steak.
Federal agents entered the plant around 9 a.m. Tuesday with a list of 97 people they wanted to screen, Rohwer said. He said the company regularly checks the immigration status of employees with the federal E-Verify database. --->READ MORE HERE
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| NIKOS FRAZIER photos, THE WORLD-HERALD |
Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raided an Omaha meatpacking plant Tuesday morning, transporting a busload of workers from the plant to an unknown destination.
Officials with ICE said in a statement that the agency executed a search warrant at Glenn Valley Foods "based on an ongoing criminal investigation into the large-scale employment of aliens without authorization to work in the United States." No other businesses were targeted, ICE said.
The ICE statement said the operation was likely the largest to take place in Nebraska since the current Trump administration took office.
Gary Rohwer, the CEO of Glenn Valley Foods, said that ICE showed up at 9 a.m. with a list of the names of 97 people they wanted to screen.
A Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman said in a statement late Tuesday that the operation resulted in the arrest of 76 undocumented individuals. During the operation, an undocumented individual from Honduras threatened federal agents with a box cutter, but no ICE law enforcement officers were injured.
Early reports of the ICE raid included claims that the operation was targeting food processing plants across Omaha. The scope of the raid became clear by Tuesday afternoon.
Raids initially were reported by advocates and a county official at Glenn Valley Foods, 6824 J St., and multiple other locations. But reports of raids at JBS Beef Plant, 3435 Edward "Babe" Gomez Ave., Tyson Foods, 13076 Renfro Circle and other locations were later corrected by officials and the businesses.
Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., confirmed later Tuesday that Glenn Valley was the only facility involved in the operation. The warrant, according to his statement, was in relation to stolen identities. ICE, he said, verified that Glenn Valley complied fully with E-verify and "is a victim in this as well. --->READ MORE HERE
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