ICE detains leader of farmworker union in northwest Washington state

Farmworker activist and union leader Alfredo Juarez Zeferino, known in his community as “Lelo,” was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Tuesday, March 25, and is being held at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma.

The office of U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Bellingham), who represents northwest Washington, including Skagit County, where Juarez was detained, said that ICE had also detained “several” other community members.

KUOW is working to confirm the number of arrests.

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Rosalinda Guillén, a farmworker and political activist in Skagit County, said Juarez is a 25-year-old farmworker and union organizer, and he was detained while driving his partner to her job in the flower fields.

“He tried to defend himself by not speaking to them and refusing to get out of the car, and they broke his car window,” Guillén told KUOW.

“He doesn’t have a criminal record, and we think that they stopped him because of his leadership, because of his activism,” Guillén added. “We’re trying to get him out.”

Immigration records confirm Juarez had a standing deportation order from 2018. The Bellingham Herald reported in 2015 that he was first sent to the Tacoma detention center in June of that year, when he was pulled over by police for driving the wrong way on a one-way street. The police then called immigration enforcement.

The Herald also reported that Juarez was an applicant in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program.

In response to questions about about Juarez' arrest, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson cited the 2018 deportation order and said the agency "conducted a joint federal law enforcement arrest of Juarez in Sedro Woolley, Washington, March 25, where he refused to comply with lawful commands to exit the vehicle he was occupying at the time of the arrest. "

Juarez will remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings, according the ICE spokesperson.

Juarez received Whatcom County’s Dotty Dale Youth Peacemaker Award in 2023 for his volunteer work and worker organizing in three languages — English, Spanish, and Mixteco. He is a volunteer with Community to Community Development (C2C) and served on the City of Bellingham's Immigration Advisory Board.

Juarez also helped found Familias Unidas por la Justicia, a farmworker union based in Skagit County when he was a teen. Guillén suspects that his visibility as a community leader made him a target for immigration enforcement.

"When they learn of somebody, they just watch them. They surveil them. They follow them around," said Guillén. "I think that this is a political attack."

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U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement says it does not indiscriminately conduct enforcement actions on random people, and that its targeted enforcement actions are based on intelligence driven leads focused on people identified for arrest and removal from the country.

“The Trump administration and ICE have claimed that they are going after ‘the worst of the worst’ — but there is no indication that Alfredo Juarez Zeferino and the other people detained today represent the worst of the worst,” Rep. Larsen said in a statement. “Immigrating to the United States is legal. Union organizing is legal.”

In a statement on its Facebook page, the Mount Vernon Police Department denied any involvement.

“Under the Keep Washington Working Act, the Mount Vernon Police Department will not arrest or detain anyone based only on their immigration status … [or] check immigration status during any interaction,” the statement read. “The City of Mount Vernon is a multicultural community, committed to protecting all members of our great city, ensuring every person feels safe and supported when interacting with members of our department.”