ICE arrests 37 in workplace raid at Bellingham roofing company

In an early morning raid Wednesday at Mt. Baker Roofing Company in Bellingham, immigration officials confirm they arrested 37 people who they say fraudulently represented their immigration status.

A spokesperson for Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said its agents, along with Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations, executed a federal search warrant at the company “based on an ongoing criminal investigation into the unlawful employment of aliens without legal work authorization.”

On its website, the roofing company is described as a veteran-owned business with 120 workers that repair, replace, and install roofs and gutters. The company owner could not be reached for comment.

Geovana Perez Juárez said her nephew, Jose Manuel Sanches Juárez, is one of the detained workers. Before she woke up Wednesday morning, she said she had already received a text from her nephew, who lives with her and her daughter.

“Goodbye aunt… he also sent a message to my daughter saying goodbye to her as well,” Perez Juárez said in Spanish.

Her nephew had been working for four years at the roofing company and sent some of his money home to his mom in Mexico, Perez Juárez said.

After seeing his message, she rushed to the Bellingham company, where she and other family members of the workers watched as ICE agents loaded people into a bus to take them away.

Perez Juárez recorded a video showing agents talking with people outside the company warehouse with unmarked trucks, vans, and a bus parked out front.

“If you only knew the sadness that it is to see hard working people get onto that bus, people that came to work [one morning] and they’re not going to return with their families, it’s honestly degrading,” Perez Juárez said in the video.

An ICE spokesperson said the 37 detained workers are being taken to the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma.

Homeland Security investigations look for worksite violations. An ICE spokeperson said in a statement that raids like the one Wednesday in Bellingham focus on reducing illegal employment, holding employers accountable, and protecting employment opportunities for the country's lawful workforce.

The Pew Research Center reports that people without legal status to live and work in the U.S. represent about 4.8% of the U.S. workforce in 2022. A separate study by the American Immigration Council reports that number is closer to 5.2% in Washington state.

In late January, NBC news reported that, according to officials with the Department of Homeland Security, the average cost to arrest, detain, and fly someone back to a person’s home country is $10,500.

With those 37 employees detained by ICE in Tacoma, roofing companies in Bellingham are trying to figure out how to pick up the slack.

Angie Ringering at Skyline Roofing Company said she had been talking with other roofing business owners about the raid. She says the industry has a hard time getting U.S. citizens to apply for roofing jobs.

“I think everything's just become so political that it's made it impossible to figure out a solution to this problem,” Ringering said.

Her solution is pretty simple, and one echoed in a proposed legislation in Congress called the Dignity Act.

“You should be able to get a fast track green card for people that can come work for you, because we know these industries, like food processing, hotels, construction workers, concrete workers, roofers… We know that all of these industries are not able to sufficiently hire U.S. citizens… to fill the positions,” Ringering said.

Update notice on Wednesday, 4/2/2025 at 5:06 p.m.: This story has been updated to include reaction from Angie Ringering at Skyline Roofing Company.