Protect Workers from Lawless Dragnets

What happened last week at Andres Car Wash and Coast Hand Car Wash was not immigration enforcement. It was a dragnet of terror. ICE agents stormed the Long Beach properties without judicial warrants, snatching up workers in defiance of a court order that explicitly prohibited raids of this kind. They acted outside the Constitution, outside the law, and outside basic standards of professional policing.

And yet, after the dust settled, no one from local law enforcement treated it as the crime scene it was. No investigation. No report. No effort to uncover what laws were broken or which agents committed crimes. The message to Long Beach workers was unmistakable: ICE can operate like an outlaw gang, and our police will look the other way.

That distinction matters. Real law enforcement respects probable cause, warrants, and due process. It disciplines its agents. It produces investigative reports when violence or misconduct occurs. ICE, by contrast, unleashed untrained, undisciplined officers on a local business, leaving a 30-year owner stunned as his employees vanished into the system.

A Different Outcome Was Possible

The tragedy is not only what happened but what might have been prevented. Imagine the same SUVs pulling up, but instead of chaos, every worker calmly held up a Know Your Rights card:

“I am exercising my right to remain silent. I do not consent to a search. I want to speak to a lawyer.”

Without warrants signed by a judge, ICE’s papers were meaningless. Without cooperation, the dragnet collapses. That is the power of preparation.

The Duty of Employers

Every Long Beach business owner must recognize: this could be your workplace. Car washes, restaurants, construction sites, landscaping crews –  no one is immune. Employers owe it to their people to prepare:

•  Train employees not to run, not to talk, and to use rights cards.
•  Post bilingual bulletins explaining exactly what to do in those first moments.
•  Keep rights cards on hand so every worker carries one.
•  Know the difference: an administrative ICE form is not a judicial warrant.

Five minutes of preparation can mean the difference between panic and resilience.

The Duty of the City

But the burden cannot fall on employers alone. Long Beach’s leaders have a duty to respond when federal agents commit crimes in our city. That means more than issuing statements. It means requiring police to investigate raids where ICE violates the Constitution and court orders. It means City Hall educating employers and workers about their rights. It means creating legal firewalls and transparency measures that shield our residents from lawless federal dragnets.

The Turning Point

The raids at Andres Car Wash must not fade into memory as just another day of intimidation. They should be remembered as a breaking point – a moment when our city chose whether to accept outlaw dragnets as the new normal or to stand up for constitutional law enforcement.

Workers deserve protection, not betrayal by inaction. The Constitution demands accountability, not complicity.

Stephen Downing is a resident of Long Beach and a retired LAPD deputy chief. He writes on policing, civil liberties and the rule of law in Exposing the Con, Defending Democracy. You can follow his work at stephendowning.substack.com.