Homeland Security and ICE arrest illegal aliens and the business owners who allegedly harbored them

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) recently caught eight illegal immigrants during a raid at a workplace in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. The owners of the business are now in big trouble and facing serious charges for hiring and hiding these workers, who weren’t allowed to be in the country.

This all went down at Abby’s Bakery in a border town called Los Fresnos. The authorities say the owners, Leonardo Baez and Nora Alicia Avila-Guel, knew these workers were illegal immigrants but still gave them jobs and a place to stay.

Here’s what was posted online: “NEW: ICE & HSI in the RGV conducted a worksite operation at a bakery in Los Fresnos, TX, arresting 8 illegal alien employees and charging the owners with federal felonies for harboring & aiding the illegal aliens via 8 USC 1324. This is the law Tom Homan has been repeatedly…” followed by a picture link.

An HSI special agent wrote in a legal document that the illegal immigrants even admitted the owners knew they weren’t supposed to be in the U.S. For example, one of the workers caught, Roberto Ibarra Otero, is from Mexico and didn’t have any papers to stay here legally. The authorities said, “Roberto Ibarra Otero is a citizen of Mexico with no documents to remain in the United States.”

The owners are being charged under a law called 8 USC 1324, which says it’s illegal to hide or protect people who aren’t supposed to be in the country. If they’re found guilty, they could get fined or even go to jail for up to ten years for each worker they helped.

This bust might be part of a new plan by the Trump administration to stop illegal immigration by cracking down on business owners who hire or hide illegal immigrants. Some states already have laws that make businesses use a system called E-Verify to check if job applicants are legal, but Texas only requires it for government workers and a few specific jobs. Meanwhile, states like California and Illinois actually make it harder for businesses to use E-Verify, even if they want to.

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