Five women and four men were detained in the immigration sweep at the Allston Car Wash on Nov. 4. Pomerleau said that many of them hold legal status and valid work permits, and none had criminal records to warrant deportation. He said they were not given an opportunity to show their documents when they were detained.
Cases involving the other six people who were detained are pending, Pomerleau said. Two have bond hearings Thursday.
Advocates say the workers were most likely detained simply because they were outside the car wash when the raid occurred. Immigration agents did not enter the building, Pomerleau said, and none of the workers inside were detained.
He said Sagastume was authorized to work by the Department of Homeland Security but was not given an opportunity to produce his documents when he was detained.
“His punishment for having a work authorization card and having a work permit and enjoying his livelihood was getting thrown in a van without any warrant whatsoever,” Pomerleau said.
“Even though he was following the law completely and working in accordance with the very work permit that DHS gave him, and then ICE goes and arrests him on the same work permit that he was using,” Pomerleau added. “It’s unconstitutional, it’s unprecedented, it’s uncivilized.”
He said Luarca was sent to a facility in Vermont that houses women.
“My clients are mothers, grandmothers, sisters,” he said. “They’re taking women and ripping them out of their communities.”
The Trump administration said it was acting on its own intelligence when it carried out the raid, but the president of Boston University’s College Republicans chapter, Zachary Segal, said in a post on X that he had been calling ICE for “months on end” to “detain these criminals.”
His comments have drawn widespread attention, and on Friday, the business denounced them as irresponsible and dangerous.
“At no point did this individual contact us, speak with management, or inquire about our employees or operations,” the business said in a statement, which did not identify Segal by name. “Publicly labeling our workforce as ‘criminals’ without any knowledge of who they are is reckless and distressing.”
“The employees detained last week are part of our team and part of this community,” the statement read. “We are doing everything possible to support them and their families throughout this process.”
Tricia McLaughlin, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, said the Nov. 4 arrests in Allston included “an illegal alien who chose to commit a felony by illegally re-entering the U.S.”
“Three entered under the Biden administration, four were gotaways at the border, one entered illegally under [George] W. Bush, and another overstayed his visa which expired under President Clinton,” McLaughlin said.
Gotaways refer to immigrants who enter the country illegal without coming into contact with Border Patrol agents.
She said the Allston operation “was highly targeted and relied on law enforcement intelligence — not your silly rumor,” referring to the claim that the Boston University student’s calls prompted the raid.
Segal noted that federal immigration officials have described all nine detainees as illegal aliens.
Pomerleau disputes that claim, saying his clients have followed legal processes; one worker is currently awaiting his green card, which would grant him legal permanent residency in the US, he said.
The car wash said it had operated in the neighborhood for nearly half a century and that many of its employees had worked there for decades.
“Our employees are good, hard-working individuals who come to work each day to provide for themselves and their families,” the statement read. “We take pride in creating a workplace where people are treated with dignity and respect.”
Material from previous Globe coverage was used in this report.
Nick Stoico can be reached at nick.stoico@globe.com.