Three Guatemalan car wash workers were detained Tuesday afternoon in New Bedford’s North End after a group of immigration agents stormed the business as shocked customers and coworkers looked on, according to Corinn Williams, executive director of the Community Economic Development Center.
Williams identified the three captives as Santos López Coxaj, Ezequiel Cos Pacheco, and Alberto Ciprian Sam. Witnesses said three additional workers were able to flee the 30-minute operation, which took place at Minit Man Car Wash at 2351 Purchase St. According to Williams, another Cape Verdean worker was asked for his identity but did not face arrest.
The agents, dressed in civilian attire and driving unmarked vehicles, did not identify themselves during the raid, according to Adrian Ventura, head of Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores, an undocumented worker advocacy organization. The car wash proprietor said she recognized one of the agents as a former customer.
At least one of the fugitive immigrants managed to contact a CEDC employee. Williams and colleagues hurried to the car wash to learn more about what had happened.
According to Williams, the accused workers were processed at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Burlington before being incarcerated in the Plymouth County Correctional Facility. She claimed all three workers are undocumented and have no criminal history.
The ACLU of Massachusetts contacted the PAIR Project (Political Asylum/Immigration Representation) to aid inmates at the Plymouth facility, which is contracted to detain individuals for ICE.
Minit Man Car Wash employees declined to comment on the raid. The New Bedford Police Department did not receive any information or awareness of the incident, according to Holly Huntoon, their public information officer. Attempts to contact US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a division of the US Department of Homeland Security, were unsuccessful.
In the past month, there have been two immigration raids on businesses in New Bedford.
An operation involving approximately ten immigration authorities on February 10 resulted in the arrest of Luis Castro Castro, 44, a Guatemalan immigrant. The detention occurred inside a shop at 1273 Acushnet Ave., whose prior owner was jailed a year ago for selling counterfeit official identification credentials.
According to witnesses, a number of officials raided the store just before noon and, after examining the documents of the new owner and other individuals present—all of Guatemalan descent—detained Castro because he was unable to confirm his residency in the country with legitimate identification..
The New Bedford Light received video evidence of the operation, which showed the officers speaking Spanish without wearing uniforms or vests identifying them as immigration officials and being commanded by a woman. “Sorry, have a nice day,” some of them said as they departed with the captive.