ICE Immigration Raid In Arizona: 223 Rounded Up After 13 Danny's Family Car Wash Locations Raided Sending Latinos Into Outrage

The ICE raid of a car wash chain in Arizona is causing outrage among resident. Documents that were unsealed Monday reveal a 78-count indictment of 14 of the Danny's Family Car Wash managers and supervisors for knowingly hiring undocumented workers, identity theft, immigration document fraud and false statements. ICE said it primarily targeted the location due to criminal activity, not its hiring of undocumented workers. Immigration activists, however, compared the raid to those carried out by controversial Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who Arizona residents tried to recall just months ago and who has been accused of racial profiling.

"In Arizona, it's hard to tell the difference between Arpaio and Obama," Carlos Garcia, an organizer with the immigrant advocacy group Puente, said in a statement. "By targeting an employer for rehiring undocumented workers, the gap between state and federal policy and practice has only narrowed. Work continues to be criminalized, and children will go to sleep without their parents tonight."

Immigration officials discovered back in 2011 that the Danny's Family Car Wash facility was employing undocumented workers after conducting an audit on the business. The location fired all of its undocumented workers at the request of the officials, but rehired them later. Documents state that the employers sometimes helped the rehired workers obtain false identification documents in order to pass the E-Verify system, which checks the immigration status of all employees. ICE detained around 223 people, most of whom were undocumented, in the bust. It released 179 after questioning, filed deportation proceedings for 30 and arresed 14 on criminal charges.

ICE said the 30 who are being deported all had a criminal history. Under ICE protocol, it must put most of its focus on undocumented immigrants with criminal records. The bust is part of an ongoing effort by ICE to crack down on employers who willfully hire undocumented immigrants. Many businesses have been targeted and each of them slapped with fines. Activists, however, say the practice unfairly harms workers who are just there to do their jobs.

"The Obama administration going after employers is just another facet of the same thing that is happening with Arpaio. The ones that are ultimately affected are the workers, because they're left without a job," Sal Reza, an immigration activist said in a comment to the Phoenix New Times article about the incident. Arpaio was found guilty of racial profiling in May, particularly discriminating against Latinos. Arpaio has since appealed the decision.