Trump's Tramplings
When Homeland Security Investigations agents showed up at Abby’s Bakery in February and arrested the owners and eight employees, residents of Los Fresnos were shocked.
“I was surprised because I know that they’re not taking advantage of the people,” Esteban Rodriguez, 43, said after pulling into the bakery’s parking lot to discover it was closed. “It was more like helping out people. They didn’t have nowhere to go, instead of them being on the streets.”
The reaction in the town of 8,500 residents may show the limits of support for President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in a majority Hispanic region dotted with fields of cotton, sugarcane and red grapefruit where Republicans made gains in last year’s elections.
Now, Baez and Avila-Guel, a Mexican couple who are legal U.S. permanent residents, could lose everything after being accused of concealing and harboring immigrants who were in the U.S. illegally.
Hundreds of school bus drivers, painters, retirees and parishioners from the nearby Catholic church come into Abby’s Bakery each day.
Six of Abby’s eight employees were in the U.S. on visitor visas but none had work permits when Homeland Security Investigations agents came to the business Feb. 12. The owners acknowledged they knew that, according to a federal complaint.
Baez, 55, and Avila-Guel, 46, have pleaded not guilty. They referred questions to their attorneys, who noted the workers were not held against their will and there was no attempt to hide their presence, as a smuggler would.
As green card holders, the couple could be deported if they are convicted.
They have five children who are U.S. citizens.
The bakery closed for several days after their arrest.
Monsignor Pedro Briseño of St. Cecilia Church often visited before early morning Mass for the campechana, a flaky, crunchy pastry dough layered with caramelized sugar.
His routine was interrupted when plainclothes immigration agents arrived in unmarked vehicles.
“A woman came here crying.
She said, ‘Father, Father, they’re taking my brother,’” Briseño said.
The priest walked over and saw agents use zip ties to bind employees’ hands.
“I was surprised because I know that they’re not taking advantage of the people,” Esteban Rodriguez, 43, said after pulling into the bakery’s parking lot to discover it was closed. “It was more like helping out people. They didn’t have nowhere to go, instead of them being on the streets.”
The reaction in the town of 8,500 residents may show the limits of support for President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in a majority Hispanic region dotted with fields of cotton, sugarcane and red grapefruit where Republicans made gains in last year’s elections.
Now, Baez and Avila-Guel, a Mexican couple who are legal U.S. permanent residents, could lose everything after being accused of concealing and harboring immigrants who were in the U.S. illegally.
Hundreds of school bus drivers, painters, retirees and parishioners from the nearby Catholic church come into Abby’s Bakery each day.
Six of Abby’s eight employees were in the U.S. on visitor visas but none had work permits when Homeland Security Investigations agents came to the business Feb. 12. The owners acknowledged they knew that, according to a federal complaint.
Baez, 55, and Avila-Guel, 46, have pleaded not guilty. They referred questions to their attorneys, who noted the workers were not held against their will and there was no attempt to hide their presence, as a smuggler would.
As green card holders, the couple could be deported if they are convicted.
They have five children who are U.S. citizens.
The bakery closed for several days after their arrest.
Monsignor Pedro Briseño of St. Cecilia Church often visited before early morning Mass for the campechana, a flaky, crunchy pastry dough layered with caramelized sugar.
His routine was interrupted when plainclothes immigration agents arrived in unmarked vehicles.
“A woman came here crying.
She said, ‘Father, Father, they’re taking my brother,’” Briseño said.
The priest walked over and saw agents use zip ties to bind employees’ hands.
