An Election Day immigration raid at a Boston car wash has taken the local community by surprise and left owners shocked.
Liz Breadon, who represents Allston-Brighton on Boston City Council, called it the largest single raid she’s aware of in the neighborhood this year. She said, as far as she knows, all of the people detained had some form of legal immigration status.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement drove up to Allston Car Wash on Cambridge Street Tuesday morning. Agents detained nine immigrants who were all working at the facility, co-owner Mike Delaney told GBH News.
“Our main concern is with our employees that were detained,” Delaney said. “We really don’t want to do anything that would stir the hornet’s nest.”
“It was kind of crazy,” he said.
Delaney said some of his employees were cleaning the interiors of customers’ cars when they were detained, and that the raid ended around 11 a.m. He declined to speak to media further out of concern of jeopardizing his detained employees.
ICE and the Department of Homeland Security didn’t respond to requests for comment about the arrests, what the charges were for the individuals and where they were taken.
ICE has made a number of arrests and conducted several official operations in Massachusetts, including one called Operation 2.0 in September. The agency announced more than 1,400 immigrants were detained by the agency that month, with more than 600 having serious criminal convictions or charges.
A number of community members and volunteers for LUCE Immigrant Justice Network of MA arrived later to witness the scene, document and confirm details.
Councilor Breadon was alerted to the arrests and arrived at the car wash around 10:45 a.m.
“Someone said there were as many as 17 cars, but I cannot verify the exact number of cars. But it was a very big raid for Allston-Brighton,” she said.
Breadon told GBH News this is the largest immigration raid she knows of in her district under the Trump administration.
She arrived after the arrests, as vehicles were driving immigrants away. She saw what she believes to be an ICE vehicle departing the lot, a black SUV with tinted windows and Texas license plates.
Breadon spoke with a manager at the scene.
“My understanding is that they all had documentation, whether it was a green card or a work authorization card or whatever, they all have documentation, but they were not allowed to go and get their papers,” she said.
“Three people from the same family were taken,” said Heloisa Galvão, executive director and co-founder of the Brazilian Women’s Group, an area nonprofit that helps immigrants. She said no Brazilians were arrested, and that those arrested were local Guatemalans.
The car wash owner, who knows many of the employees personally, declined to give information about who was detained. GBH News could not immediately identify the people who were detained.
Galvão has been in contact with community members who know the employees.
“It’s revolting what the government is doing. We can’t take this anymore,” she said.
“It’s very distressing because these are members of our community, their kids go to our schools, they attend our churches in the neighborhood,” Breadon said. “They’re just hard-working immigrants who are trying to make a better life for their families.”
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