Seven Allston Car Wash employees who were detained by federal immigration officials last year have filed a federal complaint, the first step toward a potential lawsuit, seeking financial damages from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement over their arrest and treatment.
The Boston nonprofit Lawyers for Civil Rights and counsel from Zimmer, Citron & Clarke filed the complaint under the Federal Tort Claims Act, a copy of which was shared with GBH News, on Wednesday. The complaint, a required precursor to any federal lawsuit, claims the seven immigrants “suffered egregious harm as a result of an aggressive, militarized, and indiscriminate raid” on Nov. 4, 2025. The workers seek a million dollars each plus legal fees.
“The unlawful actions of the federal officers, acting within the scope of their official duties, resulted in intense physical, emotional, and psychological harm to each Claimant,” the complaint states. There were about 20 vehicles and 20 officers on site during the raid, most wearing masks, bulletproof vests, and visible firearms, according to the complaint.
The complaint claims violations of the fourth amendment, which bars searches and seizures without a warrant, as well as the fifth amendment (the right to due process) and the Immigration and Nationality Act. It also alleges ICE made “no meaningful effort” to determine anyone’s identity before seizing them, and that the workers suffered false imprisonment, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
“Because these workers do manual labor, they were treated as undesirable and disposable,” said Iván Espinoza-Madrigal, executive director of Lawyers for Civil Rights. “Across the country, as landscaping crews, construction workers, and car wash workers are being swept into ICE vans and locked up, the federal government is illegally targeting hardworking Latinos, including those with work authorization. Targeting workers instead of criminal activity carries real economic consequences.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security replied to GBH News after this story was published, calling the allegation of racial profiling “disgusting, reckless and categorically false.” An agency spokesperson said that the raid was a “targeted immigration enforcement operation” for nine immigrants in the country illegally.
“Law enforcement officers use ‘reasonable suspicion’ to investigate immigration status and probable cause to make arrests consistent with the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” a spokesperson said via email.
Plaintiffs in the complaint are Dairo Jesus Preciado, José Pablo Henriquez Sagastume, Vanessa Del Carmen Vasquez Escobar, Felicita Del Carmen Escobar de Vasquez, Clarisa Marisela Aguilón Mauricio, Heidy Fabiola Aguilón Mauricio and Yuli Magali Mendez Luarca. They are seven of the nine detained Latinx employees named in the complaint, and were all released from custody.
The complaint contends that none of the complainants were a flight risk, or had a history of crime or run-ins with police, and that many live with family or have established community connections. In one case, one man had been in the U.S. for 30 years and had worked at the Allston Car Wash for 26 years.
The Federal Tort Claims Act lets people sue the government for injuries caused by federal employees acting negligently or improperly within their jobs.
The government has six months to respond. If they don’t, workers named in the complaint can pursue litigation.
The complaint outlines a number of new details from the arrests and detentions last year, which were first reported by GBH News.
Preciado and Sagastume were cleaning an SUV when ICE arrived that morning. After placing Sagastume under arrest, an officer allegedly asked him “are you legal or illegal?” He has a pending asylum application and another legal status, and valid employment authorization document, but was denied his request at the time of his detention to go get it from his backpack to present to ICE, according to the complaint.
“The trauma of that day continues to affect every aspect of my life,” said 20-year-old Sagastume. “We were just doing our jobs when armed officers surrounded us and treated us like criminals. No one cared who we were. No one asked anything before grabbing me.”
Precaido, 67, takes five medications related to a previous cancer treatment, the complaint says. He was denied medicine for over two days, and had to receive medical care three times while detained at Plymouth County’s ICE detention facility.
The other five workers, some related to each other, were outside of the car wash, cleaning and drying a customer’s sedan. All were detained quickly, some still with spray bottles tucked in their pockets. Vasquez Escobar, Vasquez, both Aguilón Mauricio sisters, and Mendez Luarca allege they were not asked for their names or told agents were looking for specific individuals.
“Many individuals spent days, some weeks, in immigration detention, in conditions that were horrific and alarming, being deprived of basic necessities, and being subjected to deprivation of medical care,” said Espinoza-Madrigal. “In many instances, we are seeing medical conditions exacerbated for the failure to properly screen for their medical needs and to connect them to medical attention and hospitalization.”
Three ICE officers entered the car wash convenience store, with one identifying himself as Jhon Coleman, according to the complaint. He presented an I-9 subpoena to the business’ managers. That’s a document issued by ICE that compels employers to produce employment records, but gives them three business days to do so.
Coleman allegedly stated that no one would be taken into custody unless they attempted to flee or acted “funny,” according to the complaint. However, ICE agents outside had already detained many employees.
The vehicles stopped at a Target parking lot, and put the detainees in vans, chained by hands, feet and waists.
Felicita Del Carmen Escobar de Vasquez, 46, has diabetes, anemia and anxiety, and was denied access to all of her medications while at the Burlington ICE processing center for the eight days, according to the complaint.
Several of the women, including Escobar de Vasquez, were transferred to Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington, Vermont, and dealt with psychological and physical issues there, the complaint says.
Escobar de Vasquez said she repeatedly told an officer of her health issues and that she felt “incredibly sick,” the complaint says. According to the complaint, in Vermont, Felicita again told an officer of her health conditions. The officer brought her medication 12 days after being arrested, when her blood sugar level had reached life-threatening levels, according to the lawsuit. She was released four days later.
Other car wash workers stopped working at the car wash upon release on bond, and are afraid to leave home. A few continue to work there.
