A staffer for Rep. Don Bacon says between 75 and 80 workers at the Glenn Valley meatpacking plant have been detained. The raid sparked confusion inside the plant, fury outside it and sparked fear of immigration raids around Nebraska.
Editor’s note: Earlier reports indicated that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted raids at multiple locations in Omaha. ICE has since confirmed worksite enforcement operations at one location. The story has been updated.
Tuesday’s federal immigration raid caught Glenn Valley Foods President Chad Hartmann by surprise.
“We had no notification, no idea whatsoever,” he told the Flatwater Free Press by phone Tuesday afternoon. “We E-Verify every single employee … That process apparently is no good. They (the federal agents) told us the system is broken even though (employees) are E-Verified.”
The Glenn Valley Foods plant, at 68th and J streets, was raided by federal agents Tuesday morning. A spokesperson for Rep. Don Bacon said that 75 to 80 workers at the plant had been detained.
ICE officials in a statement confirmed the agency, along with federal partners, had executed a federal search warrant at Glenn Valley “based on an ongoing criminal investigation into the large-scale employment of aliens without authorization to work in the United States.”
The worksite enforcement operation is likely the largest to take place in Nebraska since the start of the second Trump administration, the statement said. The investigation is ongoing.
U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, the Nebraska Republican who represents the Omaha area, issued a statement saying that ICE had verified that Glenn Valley Foods “complied with E-Verify 100% and is a victim in this as well.”
Several Glenn Valley employees, some of whom had their hands bound by zip ties, were taken into custody and loaded into vehicles.
Tensions reached a fever pitch as a procession of SUVs carrying federal agents left the meatpacking plant. Several protesters jumped on moving vehicles and threw rocks and debris at the cars, shattering one window.
The Omaha activity sparked fear, confusion and anger, both inside the plant and outside as protesters and family members clashed with law enforcement. It also set off a fresh round of unverified reports and rumors that plants and stores elsewhere in Nebraska had been raided, or were soon to be.
Earlier Tuesday morning, Douglas County Commissioner Roger Garcia, whose district includes South Omaha, said the JBS Beef plant near 36th and O streets and the LALA Branded Products plant near Glenn Valley also had been targeted, but Garcia later said JBS was not targeted and he couldn’t verify operations had taken place at LALA.
Glenn Valley, which produces frozen beef, chicken and pork products for food service and retail outlets, has about 140 workers at its Omaha plant, Hartmann said. He said agents, including those from U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE), the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the U.S. Marshals Service and other law enforcement agencies, were checking federal I-9 employment eligibility verification forms.
He said he couldn’t say how many employees were detained, but said, “We’re going to be affected here,” adding that the company is not being charged with any crime.
Anna Hernandez, an Omaha advocate working with LULAC, the League of United Latin American Citizens, said her organization believed that some workers detained on Tuesday had work permits approved under President Joe Biden but recently were rescinded under President Donald Trump. As of midday Tuesday, Hernandez said she and other community leaders didn’t know how many people had been detained. She said fear was widespread.
“This is psychological warfare,” Hernandez said. “Families are being broken here.”
Reports of raids at Omaha meatpacking plants began to appear on social media early Tuesday morning.
Karla Cabrera’s aunt, who has been in Omaha nearly 20 years, was one of the Glenn Valley workers detained by immigration authorities.
Cabrera, standing outside the plant, said she received a call from her aunt around 9:30 a.m. after agents entered the plant, many wearing masks that covered their faces. She then left her phone on speakerphone, so that Cabrera could hear the commotion inside.
Law enforcement officers entered much more forcefully than during previous raids, Cabrera’s aunt said. They gathered employees and divided them by status. U.S. residents were allowed to leave. Then, people holding work visas or other visas. Finally, those believed to be undocumented workers were split into two groups, those who had a criminal record and those who didn’t, she said.
Cabrera’s aunt told her that officers were demanding that workers sign a document, but the document wasn’t translated into Spanish, so many didn’t know what it said. They needed to sign it if they wanted to leave, law enforcement told them.
Cabrera said that her aunt and others were being loaded onto a bus. Cabrera said her aunt had no idea where she’s headed.
Marisol Mejía, a meatpacker at Glenn Valley Foods, said that many employees who work at the plant hail from Guatemala or the Mexican state of Guerrero. Mejia said federal agents separated the workers into those with legal documents and those without in the plant’s cafeteria. She said the agents led her colleagues without documents into white buses with their hands zip tied.
Natasha Reyes left work to bring legal documents to Mejia, who is her cousin.
From outside the plant, Reyes said, she saw uniformed ICE and Drug Enforcement Administration agents with their faces covered by masks, as well as some Omaha police officers.
Reyes became emotional as she spoke about the raid, noting that those arrested have family and friends who depend on them for survival.
“I don’t think that anyone should be punished for going to work,” Reyes said. “It seems like no one has compassion anymore.”
Relatives of workers at Glenn Valley and LALA stood outside the plants, waiting for the workers to finish their shifts.
Flavio, a Glenn Valley Foods worker, said in Spanish as he was departing the plant on Tuesday morning that many of his co-workers were still inside. He was allowed to leave, he said, because he could prove legal status. Flavio estimated that 40 law enforcement agents entered the plant Tuesday morning, including some with “Department of Homeland Security” visible on their uniforms.
State Sen. Margo Juarez, a Democrat whose district includes the Glenn Valley plant, said Tuesday that she went to the Heartland Worker Center near 24th and O streets earlier that morning. The organization had prepared folders with information for workers.
Juarez said the raids will have far-reaching impacts: Children will lose parents and landlords will lose tenants. What frustrates her most, she said, is that Congress hasn’t passed reforms needed for these immigrants.
“There is no doubt that these employers need the workers, right? There’s no doubt about that,” Juarez said. “Now look at the impact it’s going to have on all of us — not just them directly, it’s going to ripple from there. It’s an extreme frustration of mine.”
Sen. Dunixi Guereca, a state senator and Democrat who represents parts of South Omaha, said the big question right now is where ICE is going to take people. Right now he said the focus is on getting people resources and making sure families with detained loved ones reach out for support.
Guereca, the son of Mexican immigrants, said South Omaha has been a “gateway to America for over a century.”
“This is a place where people come to seek their American dream, work hard and raise their families in peace,” he said. “These types of outdated tactics do nothing but spread fear. South 24th Street is empty right now -– not only is this impacting working Nebraska families, it’s also affecting our small businesses and our economy.”
Late Tuesday morning, the Omaha Police Department posted on X that police were aware of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations taking place in Omaha. “The Department of Homeland Security recently notified OPD of the operations and OPD officers responded to the areas for traffic control and public safety in the areas near the operations,” the statement reads.
“Federal authorities are responsible for immigration enforcement,” the statement continued. “OPD’s role is only assisting with traffic control and public safety in the areas near the operations.”
Douglas County Sheriff Aaron Hanson said Tuesday morning that Homeland Security contacted his office roughly a week ago to help with an investigation.
The federal agency typically does not share details about its plans, Hanson said. Instead, he said, they let agencies like Hanson’s know where they will be, when they will be there and what kind of help they need. Hanson said his deputies were helping to control traffic and “maintain safety” in the area where the federal agents were operating.
Molli Surdell, standing outside the JBS Beef plant, showed up Tuesday morning because a video taken last week of a man being detained at a west Omaha brunch spot is “seared into” her.
“They’re important members of our nation and the Omaha community,” she said as she held a sign that read “We are FRIENDS of IMMIGRANTS.” “I’m just a random person who cares … and is heartbroken.”
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