Following what may have been the largest single day of protests in US history against the Trump administration and its ongoing fascistic mass deportation campaign, federal agents continue to target migrant workers, migrants married to US citizens and even US citizens themselves at workplaces across the country.
On Tuesday, in one of the largest workplace raids of the year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced the arrest of 84 workers at the Delta Downs Racetrack, Hotel, and Casino in Vinton, Louisiana, about 120 miles east of Houston, Texas.
The raid involved multiple federal agencies, including ICE, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). According to an ICE press release, the Louisiana State Police also assisted in the operation.
In the same statement, ICE confirmed that all of the workers were transported to the Lake Charles Border Patrol Station in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
The raid did not target hardened criminals, gangsters, murderers or rapists but rather stable workers and groomers, who provide daily care for the racehorses. In its own press release, ICE admitted that only 2 of the 84 workers arrested had a “criminal record.”
This is not an aberration but the modus operandi of the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign. Armed government thugs are not targeting “millions of criminal aliens” because there are no such millions. The targeted immigrants are an integral part of the American working class. In reality, the biggest criminals are on Wall Street, in the White House, Congress and the Pentagon.
That ICE is not primarily targeting alleged “criminals” was further confirmed by internal agency documents obtained by CNN. In a report published Monday, CNN found that less than 10 percent of the roughly 185,000 people detained by ICE between October 1, 2024 and May 21, 2025 (roughly the last four months of the Biden administration and first four months of Trump) had been convicted of serious crimes such as rape, murder, assault or robbery. For nearly 80,000 of those detained, the only alleged offense was an immigration violation, such as overstaying a visa.
Also on Tuesday, in Pico Rivera, California—located in Los Angeles County—CBP agents raided a local Walmart around 8:00 a.m. In video captured by witnesses, heavily armed and masked CBP agents are seen assaulting and abducting 20-year-old Adrian Andrew Martinez, a US citizen.
According to witnesses, Martinez was speaking out and confronting CBP agents after they brutally detained one of his coworkers in the parking lot. For standing up against these fascistic actions, he was grabbed by the neck and forced into the back of the agents’ truck before they drove away.
For nearly 24 hours after her son was taken, Myra Martinez had no idea where Adrian was. In an interview with CaloNews, she confirmed that Adrian is a US citizen, born in Los Angeles. “I just want to know where my son is,” she told the outlet.
Myra said she was at work when one of her daughters sent her the video showing Adrian being kidnapped by CBP agents. Upon seeing it, she immediately left work to search for him. “It really hurt,” she said, describing the pain of watching her son be assaulted by federal agents.
Myra told CaloNews that she contacted ICE, but they had no record of her son. By Wednesday afternoon, she confirmed to LATaco that her 20-year-old son was being held at the federal building in downtown Los Angeles. The facility serves as a nerve center for militarized immigration operations across the region and is currently guarded by hundreds of California National Guard soldiers under Trump’s command.
In addition to targeting citizens and workers, the immigration Gestapo—working in coordination with local police—is also going after journalists, including Emmy-winning reporters. During the June 14 “No Kings” protest in DeKalb County, Georgia, Spanish-language independent journalist Mario Guevara was arrested while live-streaming the peaceful demonstration to his audience.
In the livestream, Guevara is clearly seen wearing a press vest and complying with police commands. Nevertheless, officers arrested him on charges of “obstruction” and participating in an “unlawful assembly.” He was charged with three misdemeanors and released on bond—but just hours later, ICE issued a detainer against him.
Now, the Salvadoran-born journalist, who has lived in the US for over two decades and is in the process of obtaining a green card for permanent residency, is facing deportation. In an interview with Forbes, Guevara’s lawyer, Giovanni Diaz, confirmed that he is applying for permanent residency through his son, a US citizen.
In a statement released Wednesday condemning Guevara’s arrest, National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) President Dunia Elvir wrote:
“Arresting a journalist for filming public police activity is a violation of the First Amendment and undermines the essential role of the press in holding government accountable.”
He added, “It sends a dangerous message that journalists—especially those covering immigrant communities—can be targeted and criminalized simply for doing their jobs.”
That the Trump administration can snatch journalists, immigrants and US citizens is entirely the fault of the Democratic Party, which has provided Trump with the votes and political cover to carry out his fascistic immigration crackdown. In a report published Wednesday by NBC News, several Democrats who voted to confirm Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem refused to say whether they now regret supporting her nomination.
Michigan Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin told NBC she voted to confirm Noem because Michigan has “major equities with the Department of Homeland Security.” Slotkin, a former CIA agent and Pentagon official, refused to say whether she would have voted differently knowing what she does now.
Michigan’s other Democratic Senator Gary Peters, who also voted to confirm Noem, likewise refused to say whether he regretted his vote. “I’m the ranking member on the committee, and I have to have a working relationship with the secretary, regardless of the positions that they take,” he told NBC.
“And so far, we’ve been able to have that.”