‘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,...

[Keyhopper]

It’s ño fun being an illegal alien 🎶🎶🎶🎶

[WashingtonSource]

Enforcing the law is “wrath”? NYT lies again.

[DouglasKC]

I haven’t heard this many sob stories about illegal immigrants. Ever.

[No name given]

Yes, yes and yes, most likely.

[READINABLUESTATE]

Hit them in pocketbook.
Make it hurt to Harbor illegals.

[Governor Dinwiddie]

If your business plan relies on illegal aliens, you have a bad business plan.

The legit baker on the other side of town is getting screwed by Lenny Baez and his illegal bakers.

Absolutely no sympathy. Cry me a river, Lenny.

[Bob434]

isn’t that just thuper thpecial? The NYT- the right arm of SATAN, quoting a bible verse to attack Pres Trump with

[Persevero]

Dude. Do you have floor mattresses for American workers?

[linMcHlp]

Large Mexican sailing vessel hits Brooklyn Bridge

https://rumble.com/v6tisqn-boat-collides-with-nycs-brooklyn-bridge.html

[Persevero]

Sorry didn’t mean “you” but our cheerful hardworking baker

[Spok]

Were they being paid? This sounds like it could blow up like the”Maryland dad” case did if it turns out they were being exploited or they were otherwise indentured.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Were they being paid?

They were sleeping on mattresses on the factory floor.

Sounds like slavery to me.

[ridesthemiles]

THE MATTRESSES ON THE FLOOR ===PART OF THEIR PAY

[gas_dr]

Let me sharpen my pencil and get some scratch paper
Assumption: 10,000 arrests under PDJT policy
2 sob stories from the NYT and who could forget the innocent Virginia wife bearer and TDA guy who the judge ordered the plane turned around in midair for a total of 3 stories
3/10000 =0.0003 or 0.03%
Seems like the batting average is 0.997
Looks good to me!

[ridesthemiles]

IN A BAKERY====HOW SANITARY IS THAT???

[TheDon]

A timeless classic.

[SuperLuminal]

"...but his aggressive policies are dividing families and rattling local businesses."

Hogwash!
That 52% knew exactly what Trump was going to do, if elected...

This article is pure political propaganda!

[Svartalfiar]

but his aggressive policies are dividing families and rattling local business where undocumented residents are indistinguishable from the larger border population.

So if they are "indistinguishable" from the general population, are we saying the entire city is illegals?

[kublia khan]

Are they all sleeping in one room? Does this mean young and old, Male and female? Where do they bathe? Are they sharing a sink in the store restroom?
If the goal of the Times was to evoke sympathy, In baseball terms we would call that a swing and a miss.

[cpdiii]

There are many in the USA that are illegal aliens and violent criminals. Just get rid of them back to their home nations or put them in jail here.

Most are economic refugees. Unfortunately they need to go also. If our nation accepted all economic refugees our nation would be destroyed. I lived overseas for many years in foreign nations. I understand this. Oman taught me much along with my boss “Sheik Saide.”