At 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday, April 2, immigration agents carried out one of the largest-scale raids in Washington since President Donald Trump was elected into office, arresting 37 workers at Mt Baker Roofing.
An officer at the scene told Cascadia Daily News the detainees would be transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement centers in Tacoma or Tukwila.
The Ferndale ICE facility along Pacific Drive in Ferndale, Wash., on April 3, 2025. Detainees were taken south to the Tacoma and Tukwila ICE detention centers. // Photo by Ayden Sweat
Mt Baker Roofing has served Whatcom County for over 40 years with 120 employees before the raid.
Families and activists learned about the raid through a Facebook Live video filmed by the cousin of one of the detainees at the scene. The livestream was quickly removed from social media.
After the raid on Wednesday, Mt Baker Roofing CEO Mark Kuske confirmed in an email that the company was fully cooperating with authorities to ensure their employees are treated fairly under the law.
Liz Darrow, the participatory democracy program coordinator at Community to Community Development (C2C), said the city’s silence isn’t just surprising—it’s disappointing.
“The city didn't do more to try to set up safe spaces for immigrants, even places where people could get information and in a language they understand,” Darrow said. “So that’s now left to community organizations like ours to fill in those gaps.”
Darrow cited the dissolution of the Immigration Advisory Board on Oct. 7, 2024, as a detriment to migrant rights and advocacy.
Ruby Castañeda, the co-founder of the nonprofit Raid Relief to Reunite Families, was not present for the raid; however, she noted the increased aggression of the raid on Mt Baker Roofing in comparison to previous years.
Castañeda created the nonprofit after her husband and 17 of his coworkers were detained by ICE on their way to work at Granite Precast in 2018.
“He was treated like a criminal for going to work and providing for his family. He was taken away, he was our sole breadwinner,” Castañeda said. “Being locked up at the Tacoma detention center, he lost 20 pounds in nine days.”
Two weeks ago, Alfredo “Lelo” Juarez Zeferino, an immigration activist and volunteer at C2C, was detained by ICE. Darrow said Zeferino’s detention garnered the support of Sen. Patty Murray and Rep. Rick Larsen.
In response to the Mt Baker Roofing raid, seven Washington state lawmakers in Congress have co-signed a letter to the Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Todd Lyons.
Representatives requested the following information immediately:
Details on individuals ICE encountered during the enforcement action, including the number of people who were taken into custody, broken down by gender, age, nationality, immigration status, and rationale for targeting them in a raid.
Information on how many of those arrested had previously received a stay of removal, order of supervision or other form of prosecutorial discretion pursuant to prosecutorial discretion guidelines in place prior to January 2017.
Information on how many of those arrested have pending asylum claims.
The manner in which ICE may or may not have collaborated with state and local law enforcement agencies.
“I hope that people who are in positions of power all over our state will leverage what they can because this is an emergency, and we can't afford to keep losing people,” Darrow said. “Not only that, the people who are left behind, the trauma that that instills is going to be a long-term consequence for our community.”
According to the Department of Homeland Security, within the first 50 days of Trump’s second term, ICE has made 32,809 enforcement arrests nationally as of Tuesday, April 1. In 2024, under the Biden Administration, ICE made a total of 33,242 enforcement arrests.
In a statement on March 13, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said, "We will see the number of deportations continue to rise. And illegal immigrants have the option to self-deport and come back LEGALLY in the future.”
Castañeda lamented the dissolution of the Immigration Advisory Board, saying immigrants and their families need resources from the city that are now gone.
“These children, the other day, their dad went to work, and they never came home. What kind of explanation can you give to a child?” Castañeda said.
This story is still developing. Check The Front’s website for additional coverage.
Ayden Sweat (he/him) is the city news editor for The Front this quarter. He has previously been a reporter and the photo and video editor for The Front. Ayden is in his fourth year at Western, studying visual journalism and minoring in anthropology. Outside of the newsroom, he hosts a radio show at KUGS-FM Bellingham, cooks and explores the outdoors. You can reach him at aydensweat.thefront@gmail.com
