ICE, Homeland Security raid bakery, charge owners with harboring illegal immigrants

Bakery owners in Texas are facing felony charges after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) raided their store and arrested eight suspected illegal immigrants.

Lawful permanent residents Leonardo Baez and Nora Alicia Avila-Guel, the owners of Amy’s Bakery named in the federal complaint, admitted to knowing their employees were in the U.S. illegally. 

Two of the suspected illegal immigrants allegedly confirmed to HSI that the owners knew about their status and “willfully” harbored them.

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They are now facing charges under 8 USC 1324, the law Tom Homan repeatedly threatened to use to pursue those hiding, harboring, concealing or aiding and abetting illegal immigrants. 

“The apprehension of the aliens was the result of a worksite enforcement action,” the federal complaint reads. “Post event, the facts of the event were presented to the duty AUSA, who agreed there was sufficient cause for a complaint for harboring and accepted prosecution.”

READ THE FILING BELOW: APP USERS CLICK HERE

In the past, federal prosecutions of business owners who hired illegal immigrants were rare. However, President Donald Trump is taking a harsher approach to illegal immigration than his predecessor.

On the day he took office, Trump issued an executive order declaring an emergency on the southern border, something he promised to do during his campaign.

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As part of this border crackdown, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. CQ Brown visited the U.S.-Mexico border on Friday to assess troops’ progress on fortifying the border wall, The Associated Press reported.

Additionally, the Trump administration designated eight gangs and cartels, including Tren de Aragua and MS-13, as foreign terrorist organizations, which expands the government’s ability to act against criminal groups operating in the country.