OMAHA (DTN) -- The immigration raid Tuesday of a small meat processing plant in Omaha is likely a sign of things to come.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are starting to more aggressively target agriculture and food processing facilities around the country as reports over the past week from New Mexico and California also highlight.

In Omaha, ICE agents hit a small meat processor, Glenn Valley Foods, rounding up as many as 100 workers suspected of being in the country illegally and potentially providing fake documents to gain employment.

ICE stated it was the largest enforcement operation in Nebraska since President Donald Trump took office. Nebraska is considered the country's largest red-meat processing state with packing plants in towns and cities across the state, including multiple major plants in southeast Omaha where the raid occurred. Nearly every one of those areas also has a larger Latino population who make up the bulk of the workforce at these facilities.

Glenn Valley Foods processes and makes thinly sliced minute steaks, Gary's QuickSteak, at its facility. Gary Rohwer, owner and CEO of the company, told an Omaha TV station that federal investigators told him 97 employees had false identification. Rohwer told the TV station his company uses the federal E-Verify program.

The ICE raid led to an early panic in southeast Omaha, an area with a large Latino population and business district just off the old stockyards area where multiple larger beef packing plants are located. The Nebraska Examiner reported small Latino businesses closed their doors.

Roger Garcia, a Douglas County commissioner who represents southern Omaha was outside the JBS plant in the area posting videos on social media raising concerns about the raid. While it was rumored JBS was raided, a spokeswoman for the company stated JBS was not a target on Tuesday.

"At this point in time, there has been no ICE raid at the JBS facility in Omaha. It is being incorrectly reported that way but the actions that have happened so far today have not taken place at our plant," said Nikki Richardson of JBS. "We have not had any immigration enforcement actions at any of our plants across the U.S."

U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., issued a release on the ICE activities in his district, noting ICE served a civil warrant at Glenn Valley in relation to "stolen identities" and ICE verified that Glenn Valley does use E-Verify "and is a victim in this as well," the statement noted.

"We understand people's concerns for their loved ones' safety and have full confidence and expectations that ICE will operate within their legal authority and treat people with respect," Bacon said. "Our office does not receive reports on individual enforcement and removal operations, but we support the rule of law."

The arrests led to a rally Tuesday evening in Omaha with hundreds of people protesting the arrests.

CALIFORNIA FARM RAIDS

The Los Angeles Times reported, "Alarm spread through California agricultural centers Tuesday as panicked workers reported that federal immigration authorities -- who had largely refrained from major enforcement action in farming communities in the first months of the Trump administration -- were showing up at farm fields and packinghouses from the Central Coast to the San Joaquin Valley."

ICE agents raided produce farms in Ventura County, California. The CEO of the Ventura County Farm Bureau cited that immigration agents visited five produce-packing facilities and farms in the area. Farms were also raided in Tulare County where farm workers had been picking blueberries, the LA Times reported.

Dozens of immigrant workers were detained. Video posted by a California TV station showed workers fleeing and ICE agents arresting them in the field.

"They're just taking innocent people who are trying to build their own American dream," said Daniel Larios with the United Farm Workers Foundation. "This is not law enforcement. It's a campaign of fear against people whose only 'crime' is living and working in the U.S."

As in Omaha, the California arrests led to hundreds of people demonstrating outside the Oxnard City Hall on Tuesday

NEW MEXICO DAIRY FARM

ICE raided a New Mexico dairy farm last week, resulting in 11 people arrested, according to news reports.

Isaak Bos, the owner of the dairy farm, told the Albuquerque Journal that his livelihood was upended when federal agents raided his operation in Lovington and arrested nearly a dozen workers.

Bos also said masked Homeland Security Investigations agents armed with rifles swept onto the property without warning, brushing past signs asking visitors to check in as a protective measure against H5 bird flu.

ICE DEMANDS AND AG NEEDS

The ICE raids on agriculture reflect the demands of President Donald Trump's aide Stephen Miller who met with ICE leaders in late May demanding the agency increase its volume of daily arrests, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Agriculture is an industry ripe for aggressive actions given a high volume of undocumented workers in farming and in food processing facilities, going back decades. Agriculture groups have pressed for years for Congress to pass legislation that would legalize the workforce, but those bills have failed to pass.

Trump, in a Cabinet meeting in April, also told the secretaries of Agriculture, Homeland Security and Labor that he wanted to create a program so that workers on farms could be legalized.

While pressing to arrest people in the country illegally, the Trump administration also has been focused on lowering food inflation.

Those two demands now appear to be in direct conflict as ICE is ramping up its raids on farms and food processors.

See, "Trump Floats Plan to Legalize Undocumented Farm Workers," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

Chris Clayton can be reached at Chris.Clayton@dtn.com

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