"I'm Thinking I'm 100% Legal." Then ICE Raided His Company.

Summary

Episode Summary: "I'm Thinking I'm 100% Legal." Then ICE Raided His Company

Introduction

In this gripping episode of The Journal, hosted by Annie Minoff of The Wall Street Journal and Jessica Mendoza of Gimlet, listeners are taken deep into the tumultuous experience of Gary Rohr, CEO of Glen Valley Foods, a Nebraska-based meatpacking company. Released on June 26, 2025, the episode delves into the Trump administration's aggressive deportation policies and their profound impact on businesses reliant on immigrant labor.

The Business: Glen Valley Foods

Gary Rohr has been a stalwart in the meatpacking industry since the 1980s. His company, Glen Valley Foods, produces the popular Gary's Quick Steaks, renowned for their convenience and quality. Produced in their Omaha plant, these steaks are small, thinly sliced pieces that thaw rapidly, catering to a variety of dishes from burritos to Philly cheesesteaks.

"[Gary's Quick Steaks] release in 60 seconds until a pile of thinly sliced steak for burritos, tacos, salads, steak and eggs, Philly cheesesteak sandwiches." [00:48]

Rohr emphasizes the importance of his workforce, primarily composed of Latino immigrants, many of whom have been with the company for over a decade.

"We really, really have a great, great that we think the world of. They've been here forever, and once they come, they stay. They're responsible, they show up on time." [01:21]

The ICE Raid

Despite his efforts to maintain a legally compliant workforce through the E-Verify system, Gary Rohr's company became a target of the Trump administration's intensified deportation campaign. On the morning of June 10, federal agents from ICE and Homeland Security executed a dramatic raid on Glen Valley Foods.

"It was about 9:30 in the morning and ICE and Homeland Security people, they surrounded the building first... We didn't even know it had the building totally surrounded." [01:48]

The raid was swift and forceful, with agents deploying helmets, masks, bulletproof vests, and even a steel ram to enforce entry. The agents arrested approximately 75 employees, alleging the use of fraudulent IDs and stolen Social Security numbers.

"They had helmets on, they had mask on... had a big, big steel ram. And had we not opened up the door up after a couple, three knocks, they were prepared to ram it, break the door down and come in." [06:58]

Aftermath and Business Impact

The immediate aftermath of the raid was chaos and emotional distress. Employees were forcibly removed, leading to a distraught and destabilized workforce. The production line was effectively halved, and subsequent absenteeism among remaining workers further crippled operations.

"We had to contact our customers and tell them what happened, and it's going to take us probably weeks to get back to 100% capacity. That's, that's a lot of loss." [10:46]

As of two weeks post-raid, Glen Valley Foods was operating at a mere 25% capacity, underscoring the severe operational disruptions caused by the enforcement actions.

E-Verify and Legal Compliance

Gary Rohr had relied on the E-Verify system, a government tool designed to verify the legal status of employees. He maintained that he had followed all recommended protocols to ensure his workforce was compliant.

"We are told to continue to E verify. Now." [12:03]

However, the raid revealed discrepancies that questioned the system's reliability. Despite his assurances of legality, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) identified employees with fraudulent credentials, leading Rohr to express profound frustration with the system's efficacy.

"E Verify doesn't work because it doesn't catch them. We can't manage it. I would not have hired any illegal workers. But E Verify said it's okay." [10:01]

A DHS spokeswoman defended the system's integrity, citing high user satisfaction and a near-perfect accuracy rate, while also reminding employers of their responsibility to ensure the authenticity of employee documentation.

"E Verify consistently receives high marks from users and maintains a, quote, nearly perfect accuracy rate." [10:15]

Broader Trump Administration Policies

The episode contextualizes Glen Valley Foods' predicament within the broader framework of the Trump administration's immigration and labor policies. President Trump had initially promised to protect industries like agriculture and meatpacking by ensuring that jobs were reserved for U.S. citizens.

"We can't take farmers and take all their people and send them back because they don't have maybe what they're supposed to have." [13:38]

However, following a brief pause in ICE operations on specific industries, the administration swiftly reversed its stance, reinstating workplace raids as a central component of its deportation strategy.

"And Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem doubled down, calling workplace raids a cornerstone of Trump's deportation plans." [14:30]

Gary Rohr's Perspective and Challenges

Rohr voices his deep-seated frustration and sense of betrayal by the government's handling of immigration enforcement. He underscores the indispensable role of immigrant workers in his industry and laments the lack of understanding from policymakers.

"He says Americans will not do the job... This is not new. This has been going on since 1982... They're telling me the government doesn't understand that Americans don't want to do this type of work." [15:04]

He also highlights the unintended economic consequences of enforcing stricter labor laws, such as increased operational costs leading to higher prices for consumers and potential inflationary pressures.

"If you pay somebody enough money, they'll do anything. But then what is that going to do? The end product at the retail level... prices will go sky." [16:09]

Conclusions

The episode concludes by highlighting the ongoing struggles faced by Gary Rohr and similar business owners amid shifting and often contradictory immigration policies. The destruction of Glen Valley Foods' production capabilities serves as a poignant example of the tangible impacts of political decisions on everyday businesses and their employees.

"It's been more than two weeks since the raid halted production lines at Gary's plant. Today he's operating at 25% capacity." [18:02]

Notable Quotes

• "E Verify doesn't work because it doesn't catch them. We can't manage it. I would not have hired any illegal workers. But E Verify said it's okay." — Gary Rohr [10:01]

• "They just stormed the building offices, processing floor, grabbing people, putting them in different rooms. People were crying, bawling." — Gary Rohr [08:23]

• "This country was founded on immigration. People coming into this country, I mean, we need these." — Gary Rohr [17:10]

Final Thoughts

This episode of The Journal offers a compelling and humanizing glimpse into the real-world ramifications of national policies on individual businesses and their communities. Through Gary Rohr's experience, listeners gain a nuanced understanding of the delicate balance between law enforcement and economic sustainability in industries heavily dependent on immigrant labor.

Transcript

[Annie Minoff]

President Trump took office promising to carry out the largest mass deportation in U.S. history. And his administration has been trying to carry out that pledge partly through workplace raids in industries that rely heavily on immigrant labor. One of those industries is meatpacking. Gary Rohr knows the business well. Hi, Gary.

[Gary Rohr]

Hi.

[Annie Minoff]

You can hear me okay?

[Gary Rohr]

Yes, I can hear you just fine, ma' am.

[Annie Minoff]

Gary's been in the meat industry since the 1980s. He's the CEO of a Nebraska based company called Glen Valley Foods. Its signature product bears his name, Gary's Quick Steaks. They're small pieces of thinly sliced steak about the size of a nickel that have been frozen together.

[Gary Rohr]

And then when you lay it on the grill, it releases in 60 seconds until a pile of thinly sliced steak for burritos, tacos, salads, steak and eggs, Philly cheesesteak sandwiches.

[Annie Minoff]

Gary's Quick Steaks are produced in his meat processing plant in Omaha before being shipped out and sold across the country. More than 100 employees work in the production line at his plant, slicing, pressing and freezing meat. Nearly all of them are Latino immigrants.

[Gary Rohr]

We really, really have a great, great that we think the world of. They've been here forever, and once they come, they stay. They're responsible, they show up on time.

[Annie Minoff]

Gary says some of his employees have been with the company for 10 years or more. But earlier this month, something happened that threw Gary's business into chaos.

[Gary Rohr]

It was about 9:30 in the morning and ICE and Homeland Security people, they surrounded the building first. We didn't even know it had the building totally surrounded.

[Annie Minoff]

Gary was stunned. Glen Valley Foods had just become another target in the Trump administration's deportation push. Welcome to the Journal. Our show about money, business and power. Annie. I'm Annie Minoff. It's Thursday, June 26th. Coming up on the show, one CEO on the ice raid that brought his business to a halt.

[US Bank]

This episode is brought to you by US Bank. With US bank business essentials, you get more than just a bank. You get a dedicated partner that provides you a powerful combo of checking and card payment processing with quick access to the money you've earned, proving that there's nothing as powerful as the power of us. Visit usbank.com today to learn more. Member FDIC Copyright 2025 us.

[Annie Minoff]

What does a day on the production line look like? What would someone on your production line be doing in a typical day?

[Gary Rohr]

Well, what they basically do is they take boxed beef that we purchased from the packer and they open it up and then what they do is they slice it and Then they press it, and then they slice it again, and then it goes through a stuffer that stuffs it into a log, and then it's blast frozen.

[Annie Minoff]

How hard is that work? Because what you're describing sounds pretty labor intensive, making all those thin slices.

[Gary Rohr]

Well, ma' am, it's not only hard, but if you can visualize a bloody wet floor at 39, 40 degrees. Knives, presses. I've had people that have lost their hands in the press.

[Annie Minoff]

Oh, my God.

[Gary Rohr]

The press runs about 1300 pounds per square inch. And it's hard. The boxes are heavy.

[Annie Minoff]

Gary says he pays his production line workers an average of 20 bucks an hour. That's higher than Nebraska's minimum wage of 1350. He also says his workers are on the company payroll and that Glen Valley Foods takes out taxes appropriately. Tough working conditions are a big reason why the meatpacking industry has struggled to attract US Born workers. Many workers in animal slaughtering and processing are immigrants, and about 16% are likely undocumented, according to a Goldman Sachs report. That's among the highest percentages of undocumented labor in any industry. So when you hire somebody, how do you try to figure out whether they're authorized to work in the U.S. well.

[Gary Rohr]

The Homeland Security people instructed me years ago to use their program called E Verify.

[Annie Minoff]

E Verify. It's an online government tool that lets employers like Gary vet new hires to make sure their documents check out and that they're legally authorized to work in.

[Gary Rohr]

The U.S. so we send the paperwork in, meaning the i9s, to the government, and they critique it, check it out, review it, and then they come back and say, hire them. They're okay, they're legal, they're fine.

[Annie Minoff]

It is possible to circumvent e verifice checks by submitting fraudulent documents. And there are other, more robust measures available for businesses to vet new hires. Some large companies in the meat industry, for example, hire outside consultants to conduct audits of their employees documents. But for small businesses like Gary's, it's common to just rely on E Verify, which is free. Gary says he's used it for years. As you were watching ICE kind of ramp up its raids over the last several weeks, were you worried about your.

[Gary Rohr]

Plant prior to the raid? I'm thinking I'm 100% legal. So I'm telling myself, I've got nothing. Why would I worry? I mean, they're already verified.

[Annie Minoff]

Gary wasn't worried, but his company was on the radar of the Department of Homeland Security. And on the morning of June 10, federal agents showed up at his plant.

[Gary Rohr]

They had helmets on, they had mask on. You could only see their eyes. They had bulletproof vest on. They had clubs, they had guns. Then about, probably, I don't know, 20 of them came to the front door and they had a big, big steel ram. And had we not opened up the door after a couple, three knocks, they were prepared to ram it, break the door down and come in. But we did open the door up and they showed us the warrant. And then they rushed in and basically took control of everything. They went to the processing floor, grabbed people, put them in the break room, test kitchen. They went into. They just went all over. They just stormed the building offices, processing floor, grabbing people, putting them in different rooms. People were crying, bawling. I had employees running into the freezers, hiding behind the pallets. We had one guy went up on the roof. It was chaotic.

[Annie Minoff]

How did that feel to see at your factory?

[Gary Rohr]

Well, I came close to crying after I saw so many mothers crying and being handcuffed and taken out of here and placed in a van. Not a van, but a. Oh, like a school bus, I guess you would call it. And then trucks about four hours down the interstate to North Platte, Nebraska, to be thrown in jail. Waiting for their court appearance.

[Annie Minoff]

About 75 of Gary's workers were arrested that day, according to the Department of Justice. Five are now facing criminal charges for resisting arrest or assaulting officers. During the raid, DHS and ICE agents audited Glen Valley Foods and found workers who had allegedly applied for their jobs using fraudulent IDs and Social Security numbers that didn't belong to them. A DHS spokeswoman said that the stolen Social Security numbers caused harm to, quote, real Americans, adding, quote, these criminals shouldn't be pitied. They should be held accountable. And under President Trump and Secretary Noem, they will be. The spokeswoman also said that agents wear face coverings for their own protection and clearly identify themselves as law enforcement. Gary says he didn't know that the workers who were arrested were allegedly undocumented. He says he did his due diligence when hiring them. He blames the E Verify system, which he says didn't flag those workers, for God's sake.

[Gary Rohr]

I mean, that's the problem. E Verify doesn't work because it doesn't catch them. We can't manage it. I would not have hired any illegal workers. But E Verify said it's okay.

[Annie Minoff]

The DHS spokeswoman said E Verify consistently receives high marks from users and maintains a, quote, nearly perfect accuracy rate. She added that while E Verify supports employers. Business owners still have a legal responsibility to ensure that employee documentation, quote, reasonably appears to be genuine. The raid cut Gary's production line workforce in half. And the following day, he says, many of his remaining employees didn't show up for work. That left his plant running at just 15% capacity.

[Gary Rohr]

So now we had to contact our customers and tell them what happened, and it's going to take us probably weeks to get back to 100% capacity. That's, that's a lot of loss.

[Annie Minoff]

What's next for Gary's business is after the break. After the raid, production at Glen Valley Foods nearly ground to a halt. Gary needed to ramp up hiring, and fast. He says finding new job candidates hasn't been a problem.

[Gary Rohr]

The word got out and there are people that came into my building to apply for jobs that were working in other processing plants. We had 100. We stopped taking applications at 110.

[Annie Minoff]

Of those 110 applications, Gary says only about five of them are from nonimmigrants. How are you thinking about hiring now, given that this has just happened and given the problems with E verify?

[Gary Rohr]

We are told to continue to E verify. Now.

[Annie Minoff]

Tell me the logic and who's telling you that?

[Gary Rohr]

Well, ma' am, the same people that have been telling me that for 15 years. The government of the United States of America, Homeland Securities.

[Annie Minoff]

How does that make you feel to be told that given what's happened?

[Gary Rohr]

You think I'm frustrated, I'm sad, I'm mad. I think the government let me down. The government doesn't understand. It's disgusting, it's terrible. It makes no sense in this day and age of technology. Are you telling me they can't determine if they're legal or not now? When they picked them up, they vetted them and said they weren't legal. So what's the government doing that I can't do? When I turn the paperwork and give it to the government, I don't understand it.

[Annie Minoff]

Are you talking to other business owners about this? Are there people?

[Gary Rohr]

They're all upset.

[Annie Minoff]

Workplace raids like the one on Gary's plant have generated pushback from business owners across meatpacking, agriculture and hospitality. That's left the Trump administration trying to pull off a balancing act, deporting undocumented workers without too much disruption to business. Earlier this month, Trump addressed the need to protect the agriculture industry.

[President Trump]

Our farmers are being hurt badly by, you know, they have very good workers. They've worked for them for 20 years. They, they're not citizens, but they've turned out to be you know, great. And we're going to have to do something about that. We can't take farmers and take all their people and send them back because they don't have maybe what they're supposed to have. Maybe not.

[Annie Minoff]

Around the same time, the Department of Homeland Security issued new guidance pausing ICE operations on farms, restaurants, hotels, and meatpacking plants. But just days later, the administration did a 180. The pause was lifted, and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem doubled down, calling workplace raids a cornerstone of Trump's deportation plans. What's your reaction? Been kind of, kind of watching this unfold over these past few weeks?

[Gary Rohr]

Well, I think it's pretty typical of the miscommunication that flows up to the president. It's terrible. No clear communication. None whatsoever.

[Annie Minoff]

The DHS spokeswoman said that the President has been, quote, incredibly clear. She added that worksite enforcement remains a high priority. Trump has said that his goal, you know, with some of these policy decisions is to open up these jobs in industries like yours to US Citizens, to Americans.

[Gary Rohr]

He says Americans will not do the job. And I think I'm qualified to make that statement by virtue of this being my second meat processing company. So I've got a track record of 40 years, and I know that Americans will not do the job. The government doesn't understand. This is not new. This has been going on since 1982, when I got in the business. This is many, many, many, many, many years going on. And you're telling me the government doesn't understand that Americans don't want to do this type of work? You know, they might if I pay them 40, 50 bucks an hour, because if you pay somebody enough money, they'll do anything. But then what is that going to do? The end product at the retail level. If you talk about inflation, this is going to be inflation going to the moon. In other words, prices will go sky.

[Annie Minoff]

High, wages go up, the price of your meat goes up.

[Gary Rohr]

Well, that's just exactly how business works, ma' am. And so that would be catastrophic. That'd be unbelievable. And the wages they're getting now are fair. They're very fair.

[Annie Minoff]

Are you worried about more raids?

[Gary Rohr]

I, I, I don't, at this point, I don't know anything. I mean, I really don't. I, I thought I had everything under control, and I thought E Verify was legal. I don't know what to think. The government tells me one thing, and then the next day or two, or they tell me another thing. They tell me, first they told me it works. Now they tell me it doesn't work. And then number three, they tell me, guess what they tell me now.

[Annie Minoff]

What?

[Gary Rohr]

Keep doing it. Keep doing it. It doesn't work, but keep doing it. Maybe the most important thing is for the government to just simply understand that this country was founded on immigration. People coming into this country, I mean, we need these. These people especially for this type of industry, more than ever. And so I'm at a loss for words as to why the government doesn't understand this. It's just. It's chaotic. It's unbelievable.

[Annie Minoff]

It's been more than two weeks since the raid halted production lines at Gary's plant. Today he's operating at 25% capacity. That's all for today. Thursday, June 26th. The Journal is a co production of Spotify and the Wall Street Journal. Additional reporting in today's episode by Ariane Campo Flores. Tarini Party. Rebecca Picciotto and Patrick Thomas. Thanks for listening. See you tomorrow.