Anatomy of a raid: How immigration agents descended on an L.A. car wash
5.38.4
Immigration Anatomy of a raid: How immigration agents descended on an L.A. car wash
Security footage and cellphone video show how immigration officers swept in and detained people in the span of a few minutes.
(The Washington Post)
By Arelis R. Hernández
, Marianne LeVine
and Zoeann Murphy
June 12, 2025 at 5:00 a.m. EDT
6 minutes ago
6 min
LOS ANGELES — Federal immigration officers conducting workplace sweeps in Los Angeles over the past week have repeatedly targeted a quintessential business in highway-heavy Southern California: the car wash.
Officers in masks and bulletproof vests have been spotted pulling up to businesses in pickup trucks, detaining workers wiping windshields and then shuttling them away — all in a matter of minutes.
At least six car washes have been targeted in California's largest city, where protests over the raids and President Donald Trump's decision to call in National Guard troops and the Marines are expected to continue.
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Over two consecutive days, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents descended on Westchester Hand Wash near Los Angeles International Airport. The Washington Post obtained video showing how each raid transpired. Surveillance footage from Sunday shows immigration agents using their vehicles to block an exit and then walking toward the workers. Several took off running when they realized what was happening. The agents returned again the next day.
This is how the second sweep unfolded.
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June 9, 2025, 12:19 p.m.
On Monday, agents in two white U.S. Customs and Border Protection trucks pulled up to Westchester Hand Wash, got out of their vehicles and began approaching workers cleaning cars. CBP agents aren't typically involved in workplace raids, but the Trump administration has tapped them to help detain migrants as they try to ramp up arrests.
The popular car wash, which specializes in detailing vehicles by hand, was already understaffed because agents had done a sting there a day earlier and taken several people into custody. Lexus, BMW and Volkswagen cars in various stages of being cleaned filled the lot.
'I was just checking on everybody,' the agent told a manager.
When the manager noted that immigration authorities had been there a day earlier, the agent made a joke: 'Did we get car washes?' The manager told him no, adding, 'You're just taking our people who's working really hard.'
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12:20 p.m.
The owner of the car wash, Mehmet Aydogan, approached the agents and tried to defend his workers. Several of them had been with the business since before he purchased it two years ago.
An agent with a neck gaiter pulled over his mouth and another in plainclothes escorted a worker to their vehicle. The man, who still had a yellow cleaning cloth in his back pocket, pointed agents to a cubby under a covered waiting area where workers store their personal belongings.
Aydogan said agents did not present any documents or answer his questions. One agent had a flyer in his hand with what appeared to be three headshots. They took two people into custody, the owner said.
'It happened in seconds,' Aydogan said. 'They were not interested in information or explanations. I tried to protect my guys because they are like family.'
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12:21 p.m.
One worker kept wiping the top of a compact gray car, ignoring the Border Patrol agents who approached him. Aydogan walked alongside the immigration officers and tried to pressure them to leave.
The workplace manager, who spoke on the condition that he not be identified for fear of reprisal, said the employee had learned from training with immigrant advocacy groups to stay silent when questioned. He said the agents had asked the workers for their names and if they were U.S. citizens.
'They are just looking around and see who they can take,' said Aydogan. 'The more, the better.'
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12:22 p.m.
Just as quickly as they came, Border Patrol left. The entire operation was over in about five minutes.
John Sandweg, who served as acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement under President Barack Obama, said targeting car washes is 'one hundred percent' a new strategy, likely driven by the Trump administration's goal of detaining 3,000 undocumented migrants a day.
That quota, he said, 'forces ICE to shift their operational tactics' from targeting specific individuals under criminal investigation to instead doing raids at 'stereotypical low-wage jobs where it's likely you're going to find people who are undocumented — that means car washes, Home Depot parking lots, anywhere you have low-skill, low-wage labor.'
Sandweg said that typically when ICE goes to a business, the legal authority to enter is usually through a search warrant issued by a judge or consent from the owner, sometimes in the context of an audit. In Los Angeles, immigration officers have conducted several sweeps in parking lots that abut businesses and are considered public spaces.
Aydogan said his business, despite being in a parking lot, is on private property and officers did not show a warrant. CBP did not respond to a request for comment.
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12:23 p.m.
The enforcement operation left Aydogan and his remaining workers shaken and his business in disarray. He said he had employment documents for all of his workers. Agents arrested men who had been in the middle of cleaning cars and still had customers' keys in their pockets.
Some spooked customers drove away. Others came by to ask what had happened and whether they could take their cars and leave. The business ended up refunding 100 customers whose vehicles it no longer had the staff to clean. The employees still there put in a double shift to help with the extra work.
Relatives of the detained men came by later to drive their cars home and retrieve their belongings. Among them was Noemi Ciau, the wife of Jesus Cruz. He was picked up in the first sweep on Sunday. She said he has lived in the United States for more than two decades and is a father of four. One of their children had an honor-roll assembly after his arrest and did not want to take pictures because her father wasn't there to witness the milestone. They had planned a special outing to celebrate her middle school graduation — tasting the spiciest chicken tenders at Dave's Hot Chicken restaurant.
'My husband had no criminal background, no tickets, no parole, no nothing,' said Ciau, who declined to share any details about her husband's immigration status. 'Everybody has a right to due process.'
The Department of Homeland Security has not provided a total number of arrests in the workplace sweeps or said how many of those detained have a criminal record. Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at DHS, said in a statement that worksite enforcement 'protects workers' from abusive labor practices. She did not respond to a request for details regarding why Westchester Hand Wash was targeted.
It's unclear what happened to the men. Many of those detained have been processed at the ICE office in downtown Los Angeles, and some have been quickly transferred out of state or deported.
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