2 more Long Beach car wash workers taken during immigration raids
Video shows agents also raided at least one Home Depot location in Signal Hill, but witnesses say no one was detained.
Two more Long Beach car wash workers are in federal custody after a Labor Day raid at Excellent Carwash & Auto Detail on the Signal Hill border, according to workers.
Federal agents converged on the car wash, located at 2650 Atlantic Ave., just north of Willow Street, around 9:30 a.m., according to a social media post by immigrant advocacy group ÓRALE. Representatives for the nonprofit were not available for comment Monday due to the holiday.
According to another car wash worker who asked to remain anonymous, two people were detained by agents, including the manager. They were the only employees working at the time, the worker said Monday.
When asked how the remaining workers were feeling after the raid, the worker said simply that this is “the new norm.”
“We just have to learn to live with it,” he said in a resigned voice.
Agents blocked all entrances and exits of the business, including at the alley, which most people do not realize is there, the workers said. One of the men detained attempted to run and was tackled, the worker said.
With no other employees left on the premises, the worker said agents closed over the three gates into the business, locking one.
The fact that agents knew to block the rear exits leads the worker to believe the business was cased by undercover agents ahead of time. The worker noted that a suspicious customer visited the businesses twice last week but never got their car washed.
Security camera footage of the raid is not available, the worker said, adding that he is unsure if the businesses hard drive was removed by federal agents or the owner before the operation.
Monday’s raid was the third at a Long Beach car wash in the last two weeks. On Aug. 17, agents raided two car washes — Andres Car Wash in Cal Heights and Coast Hand Car Wash near Cal State Long Beach — and detained at least nine workers.
When asked why they think agents frequently target car washes, the Excellent workers said the work is hard and the pay is not high.
“People who are undocumented have no other choice than to take these job,” they said. “Documented people don’t want these jobs.”
CLEAN Carwash Worker Center, an advocacy group that fights for improved conditions for car wash workers, estimates that nearly 150 car wash workers across LA and Orange counties have been detained by federal agents since June 6, according to social media posts.
Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson’s office did not respond to request for comment regarding Monday’s raids. On social media, the mayor could be seen attending the Long Beach Greek Festival, the Laborers Local 1309 annual Labor Day picnic and the Maury Street Block Party in Bixby Knolls.
Following the Aug. 17 raids, Richardson and others rebuked the operations, calling them “disturbing” and even “illegal.” Richardson and City Attorney Dawn McIntosh pointed to a U.S. District Court ruling in July that put a restraining order on federal raids based on race, language or type of employment. They said the targeting of car washes without warrants is profiling based on profession.
Long Beach has joined a coalition of other cities to seek legal recourse against the federal government for violating that court order.
Many immigration activists are warning that there will be a surge in Democratic "sanctuary cities" like Long Beach this week. A sanctuary city is one that refuses to use its own resources to assist federal immigration enforcement.
On Aug. 26, the Department of Homeland Security and Secretary Kristi Noem boasted that federal agents have arrested 5,000 immigrants since operations in Los Angeles began in June. It's unclear if the agency is referring only to arrests made in the city or the county as a whole.
Before the car wash raid in Long Beach, Border Patrol agents were seen at both Signal Hill Home Depot locations, pictures and video posted to social media. A picture posted by ÓRALE shows agents at the Home Depot on Cherry Avenue in Signal Hill. It’s unclear if an operation was carried out or if this was just a staging area before the raid at the other Home Depot location less than two miles away.
Video from Long Beach Rapid Response, which has set up daily patrols to keep tabs on federal agents as well as protests outside hotels allegedly housing federal agents, shows multiple federal vehicles staging at a nearby Target around 7:30 a.m.
At 8 a.m., agents in a white Chevy SUV were seen taking pictures at the Home Depot location on Spring Street, according to LBRR. Just over an hour later, around 10 vehicles, each with multiple masked agents, entered the parking lot.
Video shows LBRR patrollers and others confronting agents with bull horns, demanding search warrants. Agent vehicles quickly exited the parking lot after facing pushback and no arrests were made, according to LBRR.
“You should be ashamed of yourselves, you pieces of fucking shit,” one activist could be heard saying to agents Monday. “What’d you think? You were going to come and steal our fucking neighbors? Hell No! Get the fuck out of Long Beach.”
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