Omaha mayor proclaims Immigrant Heritage Month ahead Glenn Valley ICE raid anniversary

"The story of America (is) in many ways, the story of immigrants," Ewing said at a press conference. "Generations of people came here seeking opportunity, building communities, creating businesses and helping our nation grow. Their contributions can be seen in every neighborhood, every industry and every corner of our city."

Douglas County Board Chair Roger Garcia, Ewing and the Heartland Workers Center hosted an event Tuesday to reflect on the lasting impact of the June 10, 2025, ICE raid at the Glenn Valley Foods plant in South Omaha.

Community leaders also announced Día de Alegría — Spanish for "Day of Joy" — a community event celebrating Latino resilience and encouraging support for South Omaha businesses. Día de Alegría is scheduled for Wednesday along South 24th Street with family-friendly activities and opportunities to shop at local businesses.

During the June 2025 raid, ICE officers detained the workers and transported them by bus to a field office near Eppley Airfield before about 63 were transferred to the Lincoln County Jail in North Platte. 

Thirteen women interviewed by The World-Herald in July 2025 described the experience as a traumatic stretch in which some said they were taunted and misled by ICE agents — allegations that an ICE spokesperson strongly denied.

Some of them stayed at the jail for more than a month, fearing for their children's emotional and financial security in Omaha without them.

Luis Mejia, a 20-year-old South Omaha resident whose mother was detained in the raid, described watching ICE officers enter the Glenn Valley plant where both he and his mother worked.

"My mom hugged me and told me to take care of my younger siblings," Mejia said Tuesday. "Then she ran with the others."

Mejia, who was born in the U.S., said he went to the room where ICE was holding workers at the plant, and an agent asked for his proof of citizenship.

"I did not know how to do that, as I never been asked that before," Mejia said. "I looked at the officer with confusion and told him I was born here. I don't know what you need from me."

He was released after giving the officer his name, but his mother was held for about a month four hours from home. Mejia said he felt responsible for stepping up and taking care of his younger siblings. The entire family struggled emotionally throughout, unsure when they would see their mother again, he said.

"This experience showed me how immigration enforcement harms the whole family, not just individuals who get detained," Mejia said.

Roxana Cortes-Mills, legal director for the Center for Immigrant and Refugee Advancement, said many detained workers were held for more than 60 hours before being processed — during which time families did not know where their loved ones were and legal service providers could not reach them.

"This was unlike anything that we had ever seen in Nebraska," she said.

Two days after the operation, ICE leaders in Washington issued a directive suspending workplace raids in agricultural and hospitality industries — but rescinded it four days later. In the weeks that followed, fear rippled through the South 24th Street corridor, with many shops keeping front doors locked and admitting only familiar faces.

Irma Villezcas, chair of the South Omaha Business Association of the Nebraska Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, said 90% of businesses in the area closed for several days during the week of the raid — not because owners were in the country illegally, but out of fear of being racially profiled.

"We lost six businesses that closed their doors permanently," Villezcas said. "We also lost part of our workforce and much of our customer base because many people were afraid to walk on the street."

A year later, she said many customers from across the city and state have still not returned.

Laura Contreras, president of the Latino Economic Development Council's Board of Directors, said growth along the South 24th Street corridor — including projects like the Plaza de la Raza and the broader Adelante initiative — should build on the businesses already there rather than displace them.

She noted the South Omaha Business Improvement District recently received the Best Neighborhood Program Award for social revitalization from Neighborhoods USA.

"Growth should build on what already exists, not replace it," Contreras said.

Lina T. Stover, executive director of the Heartland Workers Center, said nearly 11% of Nebraska's population is foreign-born, with more than 223,000 immigrants living, working and paying taxes in the state.

"Immigrants are not separate from Nebraska's future," she said. "They are Nebraska's future."

Tuesday's event came amid a year of intensified enforcement across the state.

According to the Deportation Data Project, ICE made more than 2,000 arrests in Nebraska between Jan. 20, 2025 — when President Donald Trump took office — and March 10 of this year. 

Six Nebraska law enforcement agencies have since signed 287(g) agreements with the Department of Homeland Security allowing officers to perform limited immigration enforcement functions during routine duties.

Garcia said those state-level agreements — including one with the Nebraska State Patrol — risk undermining trust between immigrant communities and local police.

"Instead of our local community seeing law enforcement of all kinds as those who protect and serve, many will see them as an extension of federal immigration enforcement," Garcia said.

He questioned whether the 2025 operation accomplished its stated aims.

"What good is there in separating families for a society that prides itself in family values?" Garcia said. "What value is there in leaving children parentless and ripping apart the family unit? And for a state wanting to grow its economy, we only left many families without a breadwinner and a shook local economy that is left suffering from the negative impact of the raid one year later."

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