OMAHA, Neb. — The proprietor of an Omaha meals packaging firm says his enterprise has been unfairly hamstrung by federal immigration officers, who raided the plant and arrested greater than half its workforce.
The raid befell regardless of the corporate meticulously following the federal government’s personal system for verifying the employees have been within the nation legally, proprietor Gary Rohwer mentioned Wednesday.
Glenn Valley Meals now’s working at about 30% of capability because the enterprise scrambles to rent extra staff, Rohwer mentioned as he stood exterior the plant.
Requested how upsetting the raid was, Rohwer replied, “I used to be very upset, ma’am, as a result of we have been instructed to e-verify, and we e-verified all these years, so I used to be shocked.”
“We did the whole lot we may presumably do,” he mentioned.
E-Confirm is a web-based U.S. Division of Homeland Safety system launched within the late Nineteen Nineties that enables employers to shortly verify if potential workers can work legally within the U.S., typically through the use of Social Safety numbers.
A few of America’s largest employers use it, together with Starbucks and Walmart, however the overwhelming majority of employers don’t. Critics say the system is pretty straightforward to cheat, notably with false paperwork.
Rohwer famous that federal officers have mentioned his firm was a sufferer of these utilizing stolen identities or pretend IDs to get across the E-Confirm system, which lead brokers conducting the raid described as “damaged” and “flawed” to Glenn Valley executives.
However that does nothing to restore the corporate’s backside line, Rohwer mentioned.
“I’d wish to see america authorities … provide you with a program that they’ll talk to the businesses as to how you can rent professional assist. Interval,” he mentioned.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed that greater than 70 folks have been arrested in the course of the Glenn Valley Meals raid on Tuesday. It additionally mentioned one of many staff, described as a Honduras nationwide, assaulted federal brokers as he was being detained.
The Omaha raid comes amid an immigration crackdown below President Donald Trump. The administration has been intensifying its efforts in current weeks, and Trump deployed greater than 4,000 Nationwide Guard troops and 700 Marines this week to answer ongoing protests in Los Angeles over his immigration insurance policies.
The raid, within the southeastern part of Omaha the place practically 1 / 4 of residents are international born based on the 2020 census, led to lots of of individuals turning out to protest Tuesday night. Nevertheless it additionally had a chilling impact on the south Omaha group.
The Metropolitan Group Faculty’s South Omaha campus and an Omaha library department within the space closed Tuesday afternoon, and a number of other companies alongside south Omaha’s usually bustling twenty fourth Road closed as information of the raid unfold. A number of of them remained closed Wednesday, mentioned Douglas County Board of Commissioners Chairman Roger Garcia, whose district covers south Omaha.
“Everyone’s nonetheless on alert, ready to see what occurs at this time and within the coming days,” Garcia mentioned. “So there’s nonetheless quite a lot of anxiousness and worry on the market.”
That worry will present up within the type of a weakened financial system in Omaha, he added.
“You realize, when merchandise are usually not being bought, taxes are usually not being collected, and individuals are not capable of get their items as effectively. So it impacts all of us,” he mentioned.
An aunt of Garcia’s spouse was amongst these taken away by ICE in the course of the Omaha raid, he mentioned. They’ve been unable to find out the place she is being held.
The raid got here on the identical day of the inauguration of newly elected Omaha Mayor John Ewing, a Democrat who unseated three-term Republican Jean Stothert final month.
Throughout a information convention Wednesday to deal with the raid, Ewing declined to take a position on whether or not the timing of it was supposed to distract from his swearing-in. However he denounced the motion by federal authorities, saying, “My message to the general public is that we’re with them.”
Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer additionally declared that his division will play no half in checking immigration or the authorized standing of residents locally.
“That isn’t our mission. Our mission is public security,” the chief mentioned. “I want victims to return ahead. They won’t come ahead in the event that they’re scared of Omaha Police Division being immigration officers.”
