Immigrant Rights Groups sue DHS, ICE and CBP for Records on Military-Style Raids at New Jersey Bonded Warehouses

New Jersey — A coalition of immigrant worker and community organizations has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), demanding records that were wrongfully withheld about a series of aggressive immigration raids at bonded warehouses across New Jersey.

The lawsuit follows a year of increasingly militarized immigration enforcement operations at New Jersey workplaces, where federal agents have surrounded warehouses, blocked entrances and exits, and deployed heavily armed personnel, dogs, and other equipment to detain workers en masse. The complaint details how these agents abused CBP’s authority to enter bonded warehouses to inspect imported goods as a pretext to enter private workspaces without a warrant and make mass arrests. 

The organizations bringing the FOIA lawsuit—New Labor, Resistencia en Acción, American Friends Service Committee, Deportation and Immigration Response Equipo Support Services (DIRE), and the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON)—are seeking records that could reveal how these operations were planned, who authorized them, what legal authority was used, how force was deployed, and what happened to workers after they were arrested.

The FOIA request covers five major bonded warehouse raids in New Jersey since February 2025, including operations at STG Logistics in North Bergen, Vanguard Logistics in Linden, Alba Wine and Spirits in Edison, Smart Supply Chain in Edison, and Savino del Bene in Avenel.

During the October 2025 raid at Savino del Bene, nearly 50 workers were arrested. Many were transferred out of New Jersey and detained far from their families and communities. Many workers had work authorization, pending immigration cases, and deep ties to New Jersey.

The lawsuit demands records concerning:

• The planning and authorization of bonded warehouse raids;
• Warrants, subpoenas, and legal documents used to conduct the operations;
• Policies and training regarding raids, use of force, weapons, and warrantless entry;
• Communications between ICE, CBP, other federal agencies, local law enforcement, employers, and temporary staffing agencies;
• The number of workers arrested during each raid;
• The number of federal agents and other law enforcement personnel deployed;
• Weapons, equipment, dogs, and other resources used during the operations;
• Records concerning workers arrested, including their detention and processing; and
• Reports, investigations, intelligence briefings, and after-action reports concerning the raids.

For the community, the need for answers extends beyond these individual raids. The systemic abuse has spread fear throughout immigrant communities and workplaces across New Jersey. 

The lawsuit is part of the broader ICE Out of New Jersey collective work, as immigrant workers, families, organizers, and community organizations continue to challenge the expansion of detention and deportation across the state.

That resistance has intensified in recent weeks. At Delaney Hall in Newark, detained immigrants organized hunger and labor strikes to protest inhumane conditions, medical neglect, retaliation, and violations of their rights. Their warnings have been followed by the death of Edwin Jovanny Lopez Cornejo, a 39-year-old New Jersey resident and father who died after being detained at Delaney Hall.

Edwin’s death has underscored the consequences of a system operating with little transparency or accountability. His family has demanded answers about his medical care and the circumstances surrounding his death, while community organizations have called for an independent investigation, the release of medically vulnerable people, and the closure of Delaney Hall.

“Government agencies cannot continue to conduct these operations in the shadows and expect our communities to simply accept the consequences,” said Jorge Torres, Organizing Director of NDLON. “We have seen what happens when ICE operates without accountability. Workers are ripped from their families, people are transferred across the country, and those detained are placed in a system where even basic medical care is consistently being denied. Edwin’s death is a devastating reminder that these operations are costing people their lives.”

The organizations submitted their FOIA request in March 2026 and sought expedited processing of the records because the raids are part of ongoing immigration enforcement operations affecting workers and communities throughout New Jersey. The records are necessary for the public to understand how federal agencies are conducting these operations and whether they are complying with constitutional and statutory protections. Almost five months after filing their expedited requests, DHS, ICE and CBP have failed to produce a single document. Now, the organizations seek judicial intervention to force the federal government to comply with the law and produce the documents. 

The organizations will continue organizing through ICE Out of New Jersey to demand transparency, protect immigrant workers, and challenge the expansion of detention and deportation in the state.

Quotes from Affected Community, Organizers and Attorneys:

“I worked at Savino del Bene warehouse for just one week. I wish someone had warned me about the raids that were happening at these bonded warehouses. I have suffered greatly since the raid.”

“I had a work permit and a pending asylum application. I got up to go to work, not knowing it would be the last time I saw my daughters. Now I am in El Salvador, and my three daughters are still in New Jersey. It will soon be a year since I last saw them. Now I am forced to watch them grow up without me. That day, I was simply working. What was done to us is unjust. I do not want any other mother to go through this suffering.”

Flor, a mom who was deported to El Salvador after the raid on October 29th, 2025.

“I will always remember the fear I felt that day. It should have been a normal workday, I should have felt safe. We were terrified by the way we were shouted at and treated, without understanding what was happening or why; it was as if they were hunting the worst criminals, deploying dogs and drones. As a mother, the fear that I might never see my family again was constantly on my mind as I watched us being handcuffed one by one. The place where I spent my days with colleagues, earning my livelihood, turned into a scene of a manhunt, filled with weeping and screams of terror. We were subjected to abuse, shoving, and rough handling. We were treated as if we weren’t human. It bore no resemblance to a standard warehouse inspection; instead, it was a massive show of force, with blows and pounding on the doors, weapons, drones, sensors, and more. There was confusion upon entry and sheer terror when they screamed for no one to move; we couldn’t speak to one another—there was only a hostile, violent atmosphere. To this day, every memory of that day makes me tremble with fear; the screams, the weeping, and the desperate pleas—”Please, no—my dad is sick,” or “My family needs me”—still echo within me. We deserve to know why so many workers were taken and why this happened to us.” 

A worker from Savino del Bene.

“After ICE raids, immigrant rights organizations are often left to pick up the pieces by helping families locate their loved ones, understand their rights, and begin the legal process to fight deportation. Now is the time to demand the answers and accountability that families deserve in a democratic country. We will continue standing with immigrant families and working toward justice for every worker who went to work one day and never returned home because of these raids. Justice, dignity, and due process must be for everyone.”

Ana Paola Pazmiño, Executive Director, Resistencia en Acción.

“This Freedom of Information Act lawsuit comes after over a year of escalating state violence on immigrants in New Jersey, and months of DHS, ICE and CBP ignoring FOIA records requests in violation of federal law. This lawsuit seeks to expose the novel coordination between ICE and CBP to target immigrant workers at bonded warehouses. This new tactic casts uncertainty over the many immigrant workers who depend on work at these warehouses to sustain themselves and their families. Workers are often placed at these warehouses through temporary services agencies and have little to no real choice as to whether to work there or forgo income. Without the much needed records from this request, workers, their families and advocacy organizations alike have little means to understand and prepare themselves for further raids. These records will also provide overdue transparency on the operations to the dozens of workers who have already suffered, sometimes months, of detention and great disruption to their lives.”

Jennifer Fu, Legal Fellow at National Day Laborer Organizing Network.

“The families and workers affected by these raids, detention and deportation deserve answers. These operations have spread fear through immigrant communities while raising serious questions about how federal agencies are exercising authority. This lawsuit is about transparency and accountability. We are seeking the information the public has a right to know so that workers can understand their rights, communities can protect themselves, and agencies can be held accountable for actions that have profoundly impacted people’s lives.” 

Araceli Argueta, Advocacy and Organizing Director for American Friends Service Committee.

“In the wake of each of these raids, dozens of families contacted the DIRE hotline. Many were shocked that those who entered the U.S. with humanitarian parole, applied for asylum, and held current work permits and social security cards could be detained and deported in an operation that presumably was supposed to check if the warehouse was complying with the law. Obviously, that was never the intent. They targeted many Latin American women workers with permission to work, many of whom had small children waiting for them at home.”

Ellen Whitt, Hotline Coordinator, DIRE Support Services. 

Plaintiff organizations bringing the lawsuit:New Labor
Resistencia en Acción
American Friends Service Committee
Deportation and Immigration Response Equipo Support Services (DIRE)
National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON)