Mayor criticizes ICE raid at Newark seafood distributor as ‘not democracy’

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided a seafood distributor in Newark, N.J., detaining three workers, including a military veteran, sparking fear in the food industry and drawing ire from city officials.

It comes amid President Donald Trump’s vow to crack down on immigration, which has sent shock waves throughout communities where immigrants play an essential role. Newark’s mayor called the move “egregious” in a statement.

The raid at Ocean Seafood Depot — a family-owned restaurant supplier founded in 1998 — took place on Thursday, with agents entering through the back of the building and detaining the distributor’s warehouse manager, a Puerto Rican man (Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens), and a military veteran, co-owner Luis Janota told New York’s PIX11 News.

Janota said 10 to 12 ICE agents entered the business after having received a complaint and sought workers’ documentation. He said the agents appeared to target Hispanic workers, and didn’t question employees who appeared white.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said he was appalled by the raid.

“How do you determine who’s undocumented and who’s a criminal just by looking at them?” said Baraka, who is Black, in a news conference Friday. “If we allow people to categorize us just by the way we look, then we’re going back to a time that was very dangerous for this country, specifically for people who look like me. This kind of talk in America is not democracy.”

The raid comes on the heels of an executive order Trump signed on his first day in office, allowing federal immigration authorities to conduct arrests within sensitive locations, including churches, hospitals, or schools.

» READ MORE: ICE has been freed to make arrests at churches. More immigrants took sanctuary in Philadelphia than anywhere else.

On social media channels throughout the Northeast, restaurant workers urged their peers to know their rights when it comes to ICE raids, including the right to remain silent, and refuse search.

Industry experts say mass raids and deportations within the food service industry could lead to labor shortages that impact restaurants’ ability to survive.

“I feel like we have to be a country of law, but we have to go after bad people, not working people,” Janota said. “These are family people. These are people who show up to work every day.”

U.S. Sens. Andy Kim and Cory Booker, both New Jersey Democrats, issued statements condemning the Newark raid, including how ICE treated the military veteran who was detained. Janota said the three workers were taken into custody, and some received a court date to appear before a judge, but did not elaborate. Baraka said a mix of immigrants and American citizens were detained, fingerprinted, and photographed.

“[The veteran] suffered the indignity of having the legitimacy of his military documentation questioned,” Baraka said, adding that the raid was “in plain violation of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees ‘the right of the people be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures’”

ICE said in a statement that agents can request identification to establish someone’s identity, but declined to comment further, citing an ongoing investigation.

At Friday’s news conference alongside other elected officials, faith leaders, and immigrant-serving organizations, Baraka condemned the raid and promised support to the community.

“We can’t just let this happen, we have to at least say something,” the mayor said. “As a result of that, I’ve gotten a series of emails that were not too nice.”

“We can disagree on politics. You can disagree with me about the role immigrants play in the economy … about the fact that most immigrants are not criminals,” Baraka said. “But what we must agree on is what separates this country from other countries is the Constitution of the United States.”

U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver (D., N.J.) and other officials said New Jersey was prepared with training sessions and resources for its immigrant residents. Through tears, New Jersey Democratic state Sen. M. Teresa Ruiz said she feared raids would extend to children’s classrooms. “New Jersey is one of six states where undocumented immigrants contribute more than $1 billion in taxes annually,” Ruiz said. “Human capacity is much greater than anything else.”

According to ICE, the agency has arrested more than 530 people as of Thursday and detained more than 370, but did not provide a time frame for those numbers. ICE did not detail where raids have taken place, but news outlets have reported raids across states including New Jersey, New York, and Maryland. NBC reported that officials said a focus on major metropolitan cities was likely.

“Newark will not stand by idly while people are being unlawfully terrorized,” Baraka said. “We’re going to stand on democracy and fight for all the residents in this city.”