Allston Car Wash Workers Detained by ICE File Federal Complaint Alleging Racial Profiling, Physical Mistreatment

Seven workers detained by federal immigration agents at an Allston car wash last November filed a federal tort claim on Wednesday alleging that they were unlawfully arrested, racially profiled, and mistreated in custody.

The complaint accuses Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents of arresting nine workers at the Allston Car Wash without warrants or probable cause, and alleges that agents singled out employees because all were Latino and Spanish-speaking. It is the first step toward a lawsuit in federal court.

The workers “suffered egregious harm as a result of an aggressive, militarized, and indiscriminate raid,” the complaint states, and alleges that ICE and the Department of Homeland Security denied them due process.

Spokespeople for DHS and ICE did not respond to requests for comment.

The Nov. 4, 2025 raid was the largest federal immigration operation in Allston under the Trump administration, with roughly 20 ICE agents blocking people from leaving the site. Seven of the nine arrested workers were released on bond after 14 to 30 days in detention. Two withdrew their cases and were deported.

The complaint — filed on behalf of the seven released workers by the Boston nonprofit Lawyers for Civil Rights and the firm Zimmer, Citron & Clarke — offers the most detailed account yet of the arrests and their aftermath. The government has six months to respond before the workers can sue.

Brooke Simone, the Lawyers for Civil Rights attorney leading the case, said the workers filed the complaint because they continue to experience physical and emotional harm from the arrests.

“Even though these seven workers are now back in the community, they continue to suffer as a result of ICE actions,” Simone said in an interview. “We’re filing this case on behalf of them to make sure that they can be compensated for the racial profiling and the harm that they suffered.”

According to the complaint, agents “immediately approached and began arresting the car wash employees working outside” upon arrival and did not ask the workers for their names or any other questions before making the arrests. Two of the plaintiffs — José Pablo Henriquez Sagastume and Vanessa Del Carmen Vasquez Escobar — had legal status at the time, including work permits for the Allston Car Wash.

“The issue, again, is not the legal status. It’s the lack of a lawful basis for arresting these people without probable cause, without any individualized inquiry into who they are,” Simone said. “They just grabbed people based on their race, without even knowing their names.”

After the initial arrest, the workers were driven to a Target parking lot, where the complaint alleges they were shackled at the hands and feet before being loaded onto a bus and transported to the DHS ICE Field Office in Burlington, Massachusetts. Some were later transferred to facilities in Plymouth, Vermont, Texas, and New Hampshire.

While in detention, the workers were denied access to phones and legal counsel, according to Simone. Two plaintiffs with existing medical conditions were denied necessary medication, the complaint alleges.

Dairo Jesus Preciado, a 67-year-old cancer survivor who takes five prescription medications, was handcuffed “so tight that he could not move his hands,” according to the complaint, and experienced an elevated heart rate and heightened anxiety throughout his detention.

Felicita Del Carmen Escobar de Vasquez — a 46-year-old diagnosed with amnesia, diabetes, and anxiety who takes five prescription medications — alleges she was denied her medication for 12 days after her arrest, causing dizziness, weakened vision, vomiting, and high blood sugar. After her release, she required hospitalization and a blood transfusion.

“They were initially denied that medication, and the treatment that is necessary to survive, and so their medical conditions were exacerbated,” Simone said. “For Felicita, after she was released from detention, she required hospitalization and a blood transfusion, which really underscores the severity of the completely inhumane treatment that these workers received at the ICE facilities.”

The remaining five plaintiffs did not report existing medical conditions but alleged lasting emotional trauma and heightened anxiety since their release. Each claimant is seeking $1 million in damages, coverage of attorneys’ fees, and “other and further relief as may be just and proper,” according to the complaint.

Todd C. Pomerleau, the attorney who filed habeas corpus petitions for the nine workers immediately after their arrests, said the tort claim could only be filed after their immigration cases stabilized and the threat of imminent deportation receded.

“We need to make sure that the immigration cases were stabilized, and then the other clients had to decide if they wanted to participate in this process now, never, or later on,” Pomerleau said. “And now’s the right time.”

Pomerleau said none of the nine workers had a criminal record.

“They were all labeled criminal illegal aliens by the Trump administration, which is slanderous and libelous,” he argued.

—Staff writer Thamini Vijeyasingam can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on X @vijeyasingam.

—Staff writer Kevin Zhong can be reached at [email protected].