Immigration Agents Raid Nearly 100 7-Eleven Stores Nationwide In Show Of Force

Sarah Ruiz-Grossman
Updated

In a dramatic crackdown, immigration agents arrived unannounced at nearly 100 7-Eleven stores across the country before dawn Wednesday, interviewing employees and managers, serving audit notices and arresting 21 workers.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said the sweep was meant to ensure that employers had not hired individuals without work authorizations.

The agency said the raids ― the largest operation against an employer under the Trump administration ― were meant to serve as a “strong message” to other businesses to follow the law by not hiring undocumented workers.

“Today’s actions send a strong message to U.S. businesses that hire and employ an illegal workforce: ICE will enforce the law, and if you are found to be breaking the law, you will be held accountable,” ICE Deputy Director Thomas Homan said in a statement. “Businesses that hire illegal workers are a pull factor for illegal immigration and we are working hard to remove this magnet.”

Immigration experts told HuffPost that such highly visible workplace enforcement ― with agents showing up unannounced across the country early in the morning, questioning and arresting employees ― appears to be a show of force meant not only to keep businesses in compliance but also to demonstrate the administration’s zero tolerance policy toward undocumented individuals.

All 21 people ICE arrested were employees, the agency confirmed.

“When we talk about targeting employers, that’s auditing employers to see if they followed those rules. It’s not necessary to show up with agents and interview people on site unannounced,” Angela Banks, an immigration expert and professor of law at Arizona State, told HuffPost.

The actions are in line with the Trump administration’s rhetoric and policies, which make all undocumented people ― not just those with criminal histories ― targets for deportation. ICE arrests increased by 40 percent during President Donald Trump’s first eight months in office, compared to the same period the previous year.

“For the Trump administration, it’s all about PR: They want to create the feeling that there’s a new enforcement regime in town,” Muzaffar Chishti, director of the Migration Policy Institute’s offices at NYU School of Law, told HuffPost. “Showing up at early hours across the country is showing enforcement muscle.”

On Wednesday, ICE posted several news stories about the raids on its Twitter account.

ICE said Wednesday’s operations were a “follow-up” on a 2013 investigation into 7-Eleven franchises, according to a statement. Nine franchise owners and managers were arrested in 2013 for “conspiring to commit wire fraud, stealing identities and concealing and harboring” undocumented workers. All but one pleaded guilty and were ordered to pay more than $2.6 million.

ICE said Wednesday’s sweeps in stores across 17 states and in Washington, D.C., were meant to ensure the company “has taken the proper steps towards more responsible hiring and employment practices.”

In a statement, 7-Eleven said: “We are aware of ICE actions taken at certain franchise locations. … 7-Eleven requires all franchise business owners to comply with all federal, state and local employment laws. ... 7-Eleven takes compliance with immigration laws seriously and has terminated the franchise agreements of franchisees convicted of violating these laws.”

Workplace raids like the one ICE just conducted at 7-Elevens tend to spread fear in undocumented communities by sending a message that undocumented workers are at risk of being targeted by agents at any time and potentially deported.

“Under the current administration, all workers encountered during these investigations who are unauthorized to remain in the U.S. are subject to administrative arrest and removal from the country,” ICE said in its statement on the 7-Eleven operations.

For the undocumented community, such extensive and visible raids in workplaces can drive people underground, making them more vulnerable to abuse, including exploitation at work.

“What it does when you have these raids ― where agents can go to any place in the country, with no regard to criminal offense ― no one will feel safe,” Chishti said.

“Under Obama, if you didn’t have a criminal offense, you could leave in the morning and feel relatively confident that you would come home to see your kids,” he added. “That reality has changed under the Trump administration ― and they say it themselves, that everyone should be looking over their shoulder. You’re seeing the results of that.”

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April 2015

At an event hosted by Texas Patriots PAC: “Everything’s coming across the border: the illegals, the cars, the whole thing. It’s like a big mess. Blah. It’s like vomit.”
At an event hosted by Texas Patriots PAC: “Everything’s coming across the border: the illegals, the cars, the whole thing. It’s like a big mess. Blah. It’s like vomit.”

June 2015

At a speech announcing his campaign: "When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."

August 2015

On NBC's "Meet the Press": “We’re going to keep the families together, we have to keep the families together, but they have to go." 
On NBC's "Meet the Press": “We’re going to keep the families together, we have to keep the families together, but they have to go." 

September 2015

On CBS's "60 Minutes": “We’re rounding ‘em up in a very humane way, in a very nice way. And they’re going to be happy because they want to be legalized. And, by the way, I know it doesn’t sound nice. But not everything is nice.”
On CBS's "60 Minutes": “We’re rounding ‘em up in a very humane way, in a very nice way. And they’re going to be happy because they want to be legalized. And, by the way, I know it doesn’t sound nice. But not everything is nice.”

November 2015

On MSNBC's "Morning Joe": “You are going to have a deportation force, and you are going to do it humanely." 
On MSNBC's "Morning Joe": “You are going to have a deportation force, and you are going to do it humanely." 

February 2016

At a GOP primary debate: “We have at least 11 million people in this country that came in illegally. They will go out. They will come back ― some will come back, the best, through a process.”
At a GOP primary debate: “We have at least 11 million people in this country that came in illegally. They will go out. They will come back ― some will come back, the best, through a process.”

March 2016

At a press conference when asked if he would consider allowing undocumented immigrants to stay: "We either have a country or we don’t. We either have a country or we don’t. We have borders or we don’t have borders. And at this moment, the answer is absolutely not.”
At a press conference when asked if he would consider allowing undocumented immigrants to stay: "We either have a country or we don’t. We either have a country or we don’t. We have borders or we don’t have borders. And at this moment, the answer is absolutely not.”

April 2016

At an event hosted by NBC's "Today Show": “They’re going to go, and we’re going to create a path where we can get them into this country legally, OK? But it has to be done legally. ... They’re going to go, and then come back and come back legally.”
At an event hosted by NBC's "Today Show": “They’re going to go, and we’re going to create a path where we can get them into this country legally, OK? But it has to be done legally. ... They’re going to go, and then come back and come back legally.”

July 2016

At the Republican National Convention: "Tonight, I want every American whose demands for immigration security have been denied ― and every politician who has denied them ― to listen very closely to the words I am about to say. On January 21st of 2017, the day after I take the oath of office, Americans will finally wake up in a country where the laws of the United States are enforced."

September 2016

At a rally: “Anyone who has entered the United States illegally is subject to deportation. That is what it means to have laws and to have a country. Otherwise we don’t have a country.”
At a rally: “Anyone who has entered the United States illegally is subject to deportation. That is what it means to have laws and to have a country. Otherwise we don’t have a country.”

September 2016

On "The Dr. Oz Show": “Well, under my plan the undocumented or, as you would say, illegal immigrant wouldn’t be in the country. They only come in the country legally.”
On "The Dr. Oz Show": “Well, under my plan the undocumented or, as you would say, illegal immigrant wouldn’t be in the country. They only come in the country legally.”

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.