ICE Captures Over Three Dozen Illegal Aliens In Workplace Raid

Federal immigration enforcement agents arrested over three dozen illegal aliens who they say submitted fraudulent documents to illegally gain employment at a roofing company in northern Washington state.

A total of 37 illegal aliens were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at the Mt. Baker Roofing warehouse in Bellingham, Washington, near the Canadian border.

ICE spokesman David Yost said that the federal immigration enforcement agents carried out the raid “based on an ongoing criminal investigation into the unlawful employment of aliens without legal work authorization in violation of federal law.”

Yost explained that the illegal aliens “fraudulently represented their immigration status and submitted fraudulent documents” or false information to gain employment.

“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,” said Tomas Fuerte, who has been with the company for 12 years.

The company says that it is “fully cooperating with the authorities while also ensuring that our employees are treated fairly and respectfully under the law.”

With an estimated 18.6 million illegal aliens currently present in the United States, some immigration experts say that new policies could prevent illegal employment while also encouraging illegal aliens to self-deport. Congress could take action to prevent illegal aliens from illegally obtained employment by passing a national mandate for employers to use E-Verify, a free service from the Department of Homeland Security that allows businesses to check the legal status of applicants.

“If employers were mandated to use E-Verify and the government demonstrated the resolve to hold employers accountable, that would go a long way toward drying up the supply of jobs for illegal aliens, thereby eliminating the biggest incentive to come or remain here illegally,” Federation for American Immigration Reform Media Director Ira Mehlman told The Daily Wire.

The policy was also endorsed by Vice President JD Vance when he was a Senator. “E Verify might be the single most important immigration issue,” Vance asserted in 2022 while he was co-sponsoring legislation to mandate the program.