‘Whom Shall I Fear?’ In South Texas, Two Bakers Face Trump’s Immigration Wrath.

The New York Times ^ | May 17, 2025Updated 2:01 p.m. ET | Edgar Sandoval

[E. Pluribus Unum]

A raid on Abby’s Bakery in Los Fresnos heralded the crackdown to come. Ahead of the owners’ trial for “harboring” undocumented workers, the community is seeing the impact of the president’s policies.

Most mornings, Leonardo Baez, a father of seven, wakes up hours before sunrise to mix bread dough in the border city of Los Fresnos, Texas. Punishing and laborious work, yes, but owning a beloved bakery has been a lifelong dream of his, he said.

It is now in jeopardy.

In February, federal agents swooped down on his shop, Abby’s Bakery, detained workers they said were in the country illegally and pressed charges against the owners, Mr. Baez and his wife, Nora Alicia Avila.

As their July trial nears, many in this Latino-majority community of 8,500 close to Brownsville, Texas, are learning what life will be like under President Trump and his immigration crackdown. More than 52 percent of Los Fresnos’s once-bright-blue Cameron County voted for Mr. Trump in November, but his aggressive policies are dividing families and rattling local business where undocumented residents are indistinguishable from the larger border population.

If found guilty of the most serious charge, conspiring to transport and harbor undocumented migrants, both Mr. Baez, 56, and Ms. Avila, 46, face sentences of up to 10 years in prison.

The Justice Department has framed the case as open-and-shut: Law enforcement officers found a room in the shopping plaza that includes the bakery with six mattresses on the floor housing employees unauthorized to work in the country. The raid, the government said, found two migrants “unlawfully present in the United States” and six visa holders “who did not have the right to work.”

The Baez family agreed to discuss their lives, but at the suggestion of their lawyers,...

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Democrats haven’t been this angry since Republicans freed their slaves the first time.

[tumblindice]

Gee Mr. Wizard. The Slimes is lying again?
https://www.bestplaces.net/voting/city/tx/los_fresnos

[arizonarick]

This is the Dems “boo-hoo” narrative.
Find a victim! If you victimize one, you victimize all.

[SaveFerris]

1) are they illegally here?

2) are they trafficking in illegals?

3) are they running a RICO operation using illegals?

[FoxInSocks]

a room in the shopping plaza that includes the bakery with six mattresses on the floor housing employees unauthorized to work in the country

Employees or slaves? I’m skeptical the owners ever bothered paying all the required taxes for those employees.

[ROCKLOBSTER]

>>...on trial for “harboring” undocumented workers wetbacks

Get 'em OUT!

[servo1969]

Oh, I see New York Times, THIS green card holding baker and his wife, who have been in America for decades, were hiring illegal alien workers and letting them sleep on mattresses on the floor at night. They're a couple of angels who should be lauded and praised as saints.



But that baker in Colorado just minding his own business...

[Tell It Right]

Agreed. Perhaps a reminder is in order for a little perspective.

[ROCKLOBSTER]

Mr. Baez, 56, and Ms. Avila, 46, face sentences of up to 10 years in prison.

Apply the same level of scrutiny and prosecution to all mayors, city council members and governors of "sanctuary" cities and states.

Also throw in any "sanctuary" legislators and judges while you're at it.

[lastchance]

nd harbor undocumented migrants

THEY ARE NOT UNDOCUMENTED MIGRANTS THEY ARE ILLEGAL ENTRANTS. THERE IS A HUGE DIFFERENCE. THE FORMER ARE JUST LACKING PAPERS SHOWING THEY HAVE A LEGAL RIGHT TO BE IN THE U.S. THE LATTER DO NOT.

[lastchance]

I very much doubt local codes allow for that bakery to be used as housing.

[griswold3]

Who will pick the cotton?

8 USC Sec 1324

(A)Any person who, during any 12-month period, knowingly hires for employment at least 10 individuals with actual knowledge that the individuals are aliens described in subparagraph (B) shall be fined under title 18 or imprisoned for not more than 5 years, or both.
(B)An alien described in this subparagraph is an alien who—(i)is an unauthorized alien (as defined in section 1324a(h)(3) of this title), and
(ii)has been brought into the United States in violation of this subsection.

https://www.uscis.gov/alienregistration

No one is above the law.

[Texan5]

Ay, por favor-boo f’n hoo-I’m fresh out of sympathy for people who know and ignore the law, hiring mojados as cheap labor-that baker deserves whatever fine and penalty he gets...

My 1st husband was a P.E.-he saw raids on the construction sites of contractors he was doing work for fairly often-both large and small companies were equally guilty of hiring mojados, even letting them live in units of apartment complexes they owned. The units were usually listed as vacant, but were occupied by at least 2 mojados-usually 3 or 4.

When la migra raided a jobsite, and were not shown proper documentation for all workers, the company was fined for those with no green card/I-9, etc, the illegal workers were picked up, detained, and the employer was charged for the ones they were harboring in the apartments. I saw this myself as a comp case manager a couple of times when visiting a contractor that a client worked for-it used to be serious business. If an employer was busted with illegals on the payroll, he/she was in real trouble...

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Typical histrionics and pejorative-laden "reporting" from the slimes...
* "Bakers Face Trump’s Immigration Wrath"
* "the impact of the president’s policies"
* "his aggressive policies are dividing families"

Of course, there's zero mention of the Rule of Law and that Nobody is Above the Law.

[DesertRhino]

Oh my God! Did you have to actually follow the law?

[wetgundog]

Put his ass out of business for knowingly hiring ILLEGALS.

[cableguymn]

Where’s the boo hoo girl?

[TheDon]

Being a criminal is no way to be.

[Chicory]

They had 6 mattresses on the floor in one room for employees to live in.

Either they have a constant turnover of new employees or the employees are not making enough to ever get their own places.

Either way sounds Very Fishy to me.