Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raided Abby’s Bakery in South Texas, arresting eight unlawful aliens and slapping the bakery’s homeowners with expenses of harboring and abetting criminals.
The bakery homeowners, Leonardo Baez and Nora Alicia Avila-Guel, admitted to knowingly hiring and sheltering unlawful aliens—an act that flouts federal legislation and contributes to the continued border disaster.
Homeland Safety Investigations (HSI) confirmed that the pair was charged with bringing in and harboring aliens and aiding and abetting the harboring of aliens, offenses that carry critical penalties beneath U.S. legislation.
But, fairly than report them to authorities or adjust to federal employment legal guidelines, they selected to harbor them, even offering shelter for among the people on their very own property.
NEW: ICE & HSI within the RGV performed a worksite operation at a bakery in Los Fresnos, TX, arresting 8 unlawful alien staff and charging the homeowners with federal felonies for harboring & aiding the unlawful aliens by way of 8 USC 1324. That is the legislation Tom Homan has been repeatedly… pic.twitter.com/GZNgikx672
— Invoice Melugin (@BillMelugin_) February 21, 2025
Texas Tribune reported:
Brokers performed a “worksite enforcement motion” at Abby’s Bakery in Los Fresnos and apprehended eight immigrant employees on Feb. 12 following a tip the company obtained in December, based on Particular Agent Dillon Duke with Homeland Safety Investigations, who testified throughout a preliminary listening to Friday morning.
Six of the immigrants have been within the nation on non permanent visas that don’t grant them permission to work within the U.S. It’s unclear in the event that they have been within the U.S. longer than their visas permitted, however immigration officers have since eliminated them to Mexico.
The tipster knowledgeable the company that the enterprise homeowners have been harboring and using immigrants with out pay, Duke mentioned. Nonetheless, when the brokers questioned an worker, he mentioned he obtained $8 per hour.
In the course of the raid of the enterprise — whichalso consists of Dulce’s Cafe — brokers additionally searched an condominium situated on the aspect of the constructing the place a number of of the workers lived. Duke described the condominium as an oblong room with six beds alongside the wall, two loos and no kitchen. The home windows have been coated with cardboard.
Brokers additionally questioned the couple, who allegedly admitted they knew their staff weren’t approved to work within the U.S.
The couple’s attorneys mentioned throughout a court docket listening to on Friday that providing shelter to their staff didn’t represent an try to cover them from authorities and that there was no proof suggesting the workers have been prohibited from leaving the condominium.
The decide disagreed, setting a $100,000 bond with a $15,000 cash deposit for every defendant.
