South Texas Bakery Owners Arrested By Homeland Security After ICE Raid

Owners of a bakery in South Texas have been arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. The arrests came after a raid by ICE officials at the same bakery.

On February 12, Homeland Security Investigators conducted what has been called a, "worksite enforcement action" at Abby's Bakery is Los Fresnos. 8 illegal immigrants were arrested. Homeland Security, according to the Texas Tribune, also arrested the owners of the bakery, Leonardo Baez and Nora Alicia Avila-Guel.

The owners have been charged with "bringing in and harboring aliens and aiding and abetting the harboring of aliens". According to the Texas Tribune, Homeland Security says that the owners of the bakery admitted that they knew the employees were illegal. The Texas Tribune reported that prosecuting businesses for employing illegal immigrants is rare.

In the year between April 2018 and March 2019, ICE filed seven criminal cases against 11 people for employing workers in the country illegally. No companies were charged during that period, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a data-gathering nonprofit at Syracuse University.

The Mayor of Los Fresnos called the situation "frustrating".

According to FOX News, the two business owners are facing charges under 8 USC 1324 which is a law that Border Czar Tom Homan has repeatedly threatened to use to pursue those hiding, harboring, concealing, aiding or abetting those who are in the country illegally.