ICE serves warrant at Omaha plant; company says 107 employees were on agency’s list

OMAHA, Neb. (KLKN) — Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents served a warrant Tuesday at a plant in Omaha.

In a morning Facebook post, Douglas County Commissioner Roger Garcia said he heard of ICE raids taking place at Glenn Valley Foods, the JBS Beef Plant, and LALA Branded Products.

“These are all things I’m trying to verify at the moment,” he said in the video.

On Tuesday afternoon, Rep. Don Bacon said agents served a warrant at only one facility: Glenn Valley Foods.

The warrant was related to stolen identities, Bacon said.

A representative of LALA confirmed that there was no ICE action there.

“We’ve been knowing for a while things were going to get ugly,” said Linda Jensen, a member of local activist group Like Minded Friends. “We didn’t know what ugly would mean.”

The president of Glenn Valley Foods told Channel 8 that ICE had a list of 107 employees suspected of using false documents to work in the U.S.

President Chad Hartmann said Glenn Valley used E-Verify, the government’s system for confirming that employees are eligible to work.

“We are strongly committed to following all laws and regulations,” President Chad Hartmann said in a statement. “Our company is not being charged with any crime. We have been 100% cooperative and will be transparent with all communications regarding this matter.”

A crowd gathered to watch outside as dozens of people were detained and brought outside with their hands zip-tied.

Families and friends of people detained banged on a bus carrying people away from the facility.

“Everyone is scared,” said Rosa Lopez, a Glenn Valley Foods employee.

Garcia, the county commissioner, told Channel 8 that the raid came without warning, scaring people who are now worried about what will come next.

“It’s definitely going to traumatize the community in different ways,” he said. “There’s going to be children going home without their parents being there, there’s going to be spouses going home without their wives or husbands being there. … These individuals were not in the midst of some criminal activity; they were literally just at work trying to provide for their families.”

There is no word on where the detainees are being held, but Omaha City Councilman Ron Hug said he’s been in contact with the National League of United Latin American Citizens.

“We have heard that there’s a plane at the ready to take these individuals that have been detained out of state,” Hug said. “So hopefully, with the help of national LULAC, we can hopefully stop that from happening. That’s my No. 1 mission right now.”

In a statement, the Omaha Police Department said it’s aware of ICE 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,” the agency said.

Police said federal authorities are responsible for immigration enforcement and OPD officers were just helping to control traffic and ensure public safety.

Hug said the mayor and police chief told him that they were not warned of the raid ahead of time.