ICE Detains Nine Workers at Allston Car Wash in Allston-Brighton

(BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS) U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained nine immigrant workers at Allston Car Wash on Cambridge Street in Allston-Brighton on Tuesday, November 4, 2025, in what the business’s co-owner described as possibly the neighborhood’s largest ICE raid of the year. All nine were on shift at the time of the operation, which unfolded on the busy commercial strip in Boston’s Allston-Brighton area as morning customers pulled in for washes and detailing.

“Our main concern is with our employees that were detained”, said Mike Delaney, co-owner of Allston Car Wash, confirming the detentions to GBH News and describing a day of confusion and anxiety for staff and customers.

He said the business is focused on the welfare of the workers taken into custody and the immediate impact on a tight-knit crew that, by the end of the morning, found itself scrambling to keep operations going with nearly a third of the day’s scheduled team suddenly missing.

The ICE raid comes amid a wave of reported enforcement activity across Allston-Brighton, where residents and local organizations say they have tracked nearly 30 incidents over the past month. Community groups and witnesses verified at least 14 of those by sightings of officers wearing vests marked “ICE” or “POLICE,” and by videos and photos shared during a spike over Memorial Day weekend. The LUCE Immigrant Justice Network of Massachusetts has been dispatching volunteers to verify and document arrests, creating a patchwork record of where agents were seen, how stops unfolded, and which streets and businesses became flashpoints.

Boston City Councilor Elizabeth A. “Liz” Breadon, who represents Allston-Brighton, said her office has fielded a steady rise in calls and messages since the beginning of May from constituents who encountered ICE or reported detentions on residential blocks, near bus stops, and outside storefronts. “We encourage people who see something happening to report it. We need to know that this is happening in our neighborhood and across the city and across Massachusetts,” Breadon said, urging residents to share concrete details rather than rely on rumor. “One of the dangers is that you just hear rumors, and rumors get repeated, and then it makes people even more fearful. We know ICE is here and we know they’re lifting people, but the rumor mill just makes it more difficult for people, makes them more fearful”.

On Cambridge Street, where Allston Car Wash sits along a corridor of small businesses, the morning ICE raid left workers and passersby shaken. Employees watched coworkers led away while the bay doors stayed open and cars kept coming. Delaney said he worried both about the well-being of the nine detained employees and about the business’s ability to manage day-to-day operations with a reduced staff, especially at a time when the community is already on edge. The car wash is a local fixture, drawing regulars from across Allston-Brighton, and Delaney’s comments underscored how quickly a workplace can become the site of a high-profile enforcement action.

No names, nationalities, or immigration statuses of those detained have been released as of Tuesday, and neither ICE nor Boston police provided additional details about the operation at the car wash. Officials did not say what led to the arrests at that location, whether the detentions were connected to prior investigations, or whether those taken into custody would be processed locally or moved out of state. ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Allston Car Wash operation or on the broader pattern of enforcement in the neighborhood. According to public information on ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations, the agency conducts civil immigration enforcement actions that can include targeted arrests at homes, workplaces, and public places, but specific operational details are typically not disclosed.

For residents, the car wash raid is the latest visible sign of a year marked by heightened worry and constant alerts. Community advocates described WhatsApp group messages pinging with location updates, photos of agents near housing complexes, and nighttime calls from family members after detentions on nearby streets. The LUCE network’s volunteers have driven across Allston-Brighton to verify sightings in real time, recording the presence of officers in marked vests and piecing together encounters from witness accounts, doorbell camera clips, and cellphone footage shared after Memorial Day weekend’s surge.

Breadon, whose district offices have coordinated with local nonprofits, said schools and community organizations have shifted resources to support families and children affected by watching neighbors detained or hearing that a parent did not come home after an early morning stop. Counselors and social workers have been visiting classrooms and community centers, responding to students who saw detentions near their bus routes or who are now afraid to walk to after-school programs. The effect, she said, is a climate where fear can spread faster than facts unless residents report what they see and officials can verify what actually happened on a given block or at a specific business.

The Brazilian Women’s Group, based in Brighton, has been at the center of efforts to steady nerves and provide practical guidance. Heloisa M. Galvão, the group’s executive director and co-founder, has hosted livestreams in Portuguese to reach families who may not be plugged into English-language news or who are unsure which sources to trust.

“Seek information, good information, and just go about your life… Don’t let fear dominate you. Don’t let the panic set it in”, Galvão advised, emphasizing that panic makes it harder for people to make sound decisions, connect with legal aid, or prepare documents that attorneys might need quickly.

At Allston Car Wash, the immediate concern was the nine workers taken into custody. Delaney’s brief statement reflected what many employers in Allston-Brighton have quietly said in recent months as ICE activity intensified: a single enforcement action can ripple through a small business, disrupting schedules, upending payrolls, and leaving teams to cover shifts while wondering if their colleagues are safe. In this case, all nine individuals were on duty at the time of the raid, meaning the business lost a cluster of experienced staff at once on a weekday morning. The knock-on effects included delayed service for customers, confusion among patrons arriving mid-raid, and managers trying to answer questions they could not yet address.

Memorial Day weekend’s surge in enforcement reports looms large in the neighborhood’s memory. Videos and photos circulating then showed agents detaining individuals in public spaces, prompting volunteers to fan out and check blocks from Brighton Center to Allston Village. Since early May, Breadon said, the number of constituents describing encounters with ICE has climbed, with many of the nearly 30 recent reports concentrated near transit stops and commercial strips where workers gather before shifts. Not all reports could be verified, but at least 14 involved officers wearing “ICE” or “POLICE” vests, a detail that helped LUCE volunteers and neighbors corroborate events and locations.

Parents and school staff have described how the drumbeat of alerts affects children, some of whom now ask teachers whether it is safe to walk to sports practice or if ICE will be at the supermarket. In response, schools and nonprofits have coordinated to provide counseling and link families with social workers who can help with everything from emergency childcare to emotional support after a relative is detained. Community legal clinics have also prepared referral lists for immigration attorneys, even as they caution that each case depends on facts that remain closely held by federal authorities after an arrest. For official guidance on finding legal help, community members can consult visa or immigration attorney referrals provided by USCIS.

Tuesday’s ICE raid at Allston Car Wash, which Delaney called possibly the largest of the year in Allston-Brighton, has revived questions among residents about where and why agents conduct workplace operations. While ICE has jurisdiction to carry out civil immigration enforcement, workplace raids are especially visible and disruptive, drawing immediate attention from customers, neighbors, and passersby who post real-time clips to social media. That visibility, advocates say, can either clarify what happened or fuel rumor cycles that leave people unsure whether agents are still nearby hours after they have left.

Breadon warned that the rumor mill can deepen fear and confusion when accurate information is most needed.

“One of the dangers is that you just hear rumors, and rumors get repeated, and then it makes people even more fearful,” she said. “We know ICE is here and we know they’re lifting people, but the rumor mill just makes it more difficult for people, makes them more fearful”.

Her office has urged residents to share precise details—such as street intersections, time of day, and what uniforms or markings were visible—so that patterns can be tracked and families can make informed decisions about daily routines.

Galvão’s message has been similar but aimed at reducing anxiety.

“Seek information, good information, and just go about your life… Don’t let fear dominate you. Don’t let the panic set it in,” she said in a recent stream, pointing listeners to verified updates rather than neighborhood chat threads that often mix accurate sightings with hearsay.

The Brazilian Women’s Group has also organized Q&A sessions to explain, in Portuguese, what to expect after a detention and where loved ones might look for updates. For general information on immigrant resources and assistance, see Brazilian Women’s Group.

As of late Tuesday, neither ICE nor local police had released the names of the nine workers detained at Allston Car Wash, and it was not clear where they were being held or what the next steps in their cases would be. For now, the focus in Allston-Brighton is on what unfolded on Cambridge Street at the start of the workday and on how a single ICE raid has rippled through a neighborhood already on alert. Delaney’s line summed up a business owner’s immediate priorities as the car wash closed its books on a chaotic day:

“Our main concern is with our employees that were detained”.