How AFSC Trains Businesses in Newark to Reduce Harm from ICE Workplace Raids

What happened: Early on November 19, 2025, dozens of masked federal agents entered a seafood market in Newark, New Jersey. Agents zip-tied at least 13 workers, loaded them into vans, and left. The raid shocked families and local businesses and underscored how workplace enforcement can spread fear through immigrant communities.

Program began visiting workplaces—restaurants, nail salons, small manufacturers—in Newark, Red Bank, and nearby communities to reach people where they work. AFSC's aim is prevention: giving employers and employees clear, practical information so they can reduce the risk of arrests and avoid misinformation that increases vulnerability.

What the trainings cover: Community organizer Glendy Tsitouras leads these on-the-spot sessions. Trainings start with workplace-specific topics:

• What rights workers have during ICE encounters.

• How employers should respond when federal agents arrive on site.

After the legal basics, conversations often expand to family immigration, detention, and common scams targeting immigrants. Tsitouras focuses on correcting misinformation people have heard on social media so they can make safer decisions.

Practical benefits for businesses and workers: By educating employees and managers, AFSC helps make enforcement inside businesses more difficult to carry out using administrative warrants. When more people understand their rights, they are less likely to open doors or otherwise comply with demands that are not legally required. That changes the immediate dynamics during a raid and reduces opportunities for arrests inside workplaces.

Community network and rapid response: Trainings are an entry point into a broader network. Businesses and workers are invited to join a communication hub that functions as a rapid-response system. The network lets community members ask immigration-related questions, share verified information, and maintain contact with trusted legal resources. Each business that joins strengthens local information flow and keeps people informed after a single training.

Broader enforcement shift: The article notes a larger pattern in enforcement tactics. As community education makes workplace arrests using administrative warrants more difficult, ICE has increasingly relied on traffic stops and other tactics. Reporting cited in the article links this shift to recent deaths that occurred after stops. AFSC's approach aims to limit the effectiveness of the tactics that rely on ignorance or confusion about legal rights.

Why this matters for local employers: Small business owners often assume they must cooperate with agents who show up at work. AFSC's trainings give owners clear steps for legal compliance without unnecessary cooperation that could expose workers to arrest. Those steps can reduce the chance that a single workplace visit becomes a mass detention event that disrupts families and local economies.

Who is leading the effort: Community organizer Glendy Tsitouras runs outreach and trainings across New Jersey locations. AFSC combines legal clarification, on-the-ground outreach, and network-building to reach people in their daily routines—work, home, work.

Bottom line: Practical, on-site education for business owners, managers, and employees changes how communities respond when ICE appears. Trainings reduce confusion about warrants and rights, plug people into a rapid-response information network, and make some enforcement tactics less effective while helping businesses protect workers and maintain operations.