# One year after major ICE raid, Omaha officials say community remains unsafe **Published:** 2026-06-10T01:11:06.000Z **Source:** [Nebraska Examiner](https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/06/09/one-year-after-high-profile-ice-raid-omaha-immigrant-advocates-say-community-not-safer/) **AI-generated:** yes (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) **Canonical:** https://lincolne.news/article/one-year-after-major-ice-raid-omaha-officials-say-community-remains-unsafe OMAHA, Neb. — A year after federal agents detained roughly 75 undocumented workers at Glenn Valley Foods in what became Nebraska's largest immigration raid since 2018, community leaders gathered Tuesday to assert the enforcement operation has failed to achieve its stated goals and left lasting damage. On June 10, 2025, [approximately 80 federal and local agents descended on the meatpacking plant](https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/06/09/one-year-after-high-profile-ice-raid-omaha-immigrant-advocates-say-community-not-safer/), with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement emphasizing the Trump administration's priority to "identify public safety and national security threats." But at the rally Tuesday at La Plaza de la Raza, speakers including Omaha Mayor John Ewing Jr. and Douglas County Board Chair Roger Garcia challenged the raid's effectiveness. "If they're meant to make our community safer, they're not doing that," Garcia said. "They do the opposite by taking breadwinners away, detaining moms, creating tension." The raid stemmed from a March 2025 audit that identified 107 suspicious documents among Glenn Valley's 177 employees. However, only one worker was ultimately charged and convicted of an identity fraud-related crime, according to legal advocates. The company, which used the federal E-Verify system for hiring, was never charged criminally. Beyond the minimal criminal charges, the operation devastated South Omaha's economy, an area traditionally known as an immigrant enclave. [Businesses along South 24th Street shut down immediately after the raid](https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2025/06/10/breaking-federal-immigration-raids-hitting-omaha/), with merchants reporting significant lost revenue and citing customer fear. [Three months later, businesses continued to face economic challenges as fear kept customers away](https://www.3newsnow.com/south-omaha/south-omaha-businesses-struggle-3-months-after-immigration-raid). Roxana Cortes-Mills, legal director at the Center for Immigrant and Refugee Advancement, characterized the operation as a misuse of public resources. "They didn't deliver 70-something criminal convictions," she said. "They startled an entire community and split apart families that staffed operations in a large packing plant." [The raid occurred amid escalating enforcement under Trump's second term, with Nebraska approving a new ICE detention facility in McCook](https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2025/08/20/nebraskas-new-ice-facility-symbolic-of-states-support-for-immigration-enforcement-push/). [The state saw a 329 percent increase in ICE arrests from 2024 to 2025](https://nebraskapublicmedia.org/en/news/news-articles/theres-fear-ice-arrests-surge-in-nebraska-with-329-increase-in-2025/), creating persistent fear within immigrant communities. Lina Traslaviña Stover, executive director of the Heartland Workers Center, described witnessing family separations and ongoing instability. "We saw young people take on responsibilities far beyond their years, becoming providers and caretakers for their households," she said. The city launched "Dia de Alegria," or Day of Joy, to revitalize South Omaha's business district. Mayor Ewing, a Democrat who took office one day before the raid, also proclaimed June "Immigrant Heritage Month" and called for federal adoption of "a comprehensive and humane immigration policy" with a path to citizenship for nonviolent migrants. Despite immigrant advocacy organizations' efforts to support affected families, uncertainty continues as [legal avenues for immigration relief narrow](https://nebraskapublicmedia.org/en/news/news-articles/its-devastating-as-legal-avenues-close-undocumented-nebraska-immigrants-live-with-uncertainty/) under shifting federal policies. ICE and the U.S. Attorney's Office declined to comment on the raid's anniversary. ## Sources - [Nebraska Examiner](https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/06/09/one-year-after-high-profile-ice-raid-omaha-immigrant-advocates-say-community-not-safer/) - [Nebraska Public Media: 'There's fear': ICE arrests surge in Nebraska with 329% increase in 2025](https://nebraskapublicmedia.org/en/news/news-articles/theres-fear-ice-arrests-surge-in-nebraska-with-329-increase-in-2025/) - [Nebraska Examiner: Nebraska's new ICE facility 'symbolic' of state's support for immigration enforcement push](https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2025/08/20/nebraskas-new-ice-facility-symbolic-of-states-support-for-immigration-enforcement-push/) - [3News Now: South Omaha businesses struggle 3 months after immigration raid](https://www.3newsnow.com/south-omaha/south-omaha-businesses-struggle-3-months-after-immigration-raid) --- This article was generated by AI (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) based on source material from Nebraska Examiner, enriched with 3 web searches. The original source is available at https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/06/09/one-year-after-high-profile-ice-raid-omaha-immigrant-advocates-say-community-not-safer/.