A federal immigration raid on a South Texas bakery resulted in the arrest of two business owners accused of illegally employing and housing undocumented workers. Homeland Security Investigations agents conducted a targeted enforcement operation at Abby’s Bakery in Los Fresnos, detaining eight illegal immigrants and charging the owners with multiple felonies.
The bakery’s owners, Leonardo Baez and Nora Alicia Avila-Guel, both lawful permanent US residents, now face charges of harboring and aiding illegal immigrants. Federal prosecutors say the couple knowingly employed individuals who lacked legal work authorization and housed them in an apartment adjacent to their business.
BREAKING: ICE conducted a worksite raid at a bakery in Texas. They arrested 8 illegal aliens and charged the owners with harboring and aiding illegal aliens.
The owners were charged with 8 USC 1324. This is the same statute Tom Homan has referenced multiple times.
Deport them… pic.twitter.com/PRjhcaxqia
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) February 21, 2025
Court testimony revealed that the small living space had six beds, two bathrooms, and no kitchen. Investigators said the windows were covered with cardboard, raising further concerns about the conditions in which the workers were housed.
During the ICE operation, agents questioned Baez and Avila-Guel, who admitted they had long anticipated an immigration raid at their business. Their attorneys claimed that providing housing was not an attempt to hide the workers from detection, but a federal judge disagreed, allowing the charges to proceed.
Abby's Bakery Los Fresnos, Texas admitting EVERY SINGLE EMPLOYEE was illegal and taken by ICE
“They took all the workers from here”
The business has already been updated on Google to say “Temporarily closed” pic.twitter.com/7PDgU9jlg3
— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) February 15, 2025
ICE Arrests Texas Bakery Owners for Harboring Migrants https://t.co/zgBvz5W486
— FollowTheMoney (@F_T_M_I_N_L) February 22, 2025
The detained workers remain in ICE custody and are pending deportation to Mexico. ICE officials emphasized that businesses found violating employment laws will face consequences as the administration ramps up workplace enforcement efforts.
Mayor Lourdes Flores, a Democrat, called the situation “frustrating” and expressed concern for the bakery owners’ family. The couple has five children, ranging in age from 10 to 31.
