More than 50 workers at a Lynden food processing facility have been detained by federal immigration agents since March 2026, with four additional arrests occurring in the two days leading up to July 24, according to the local advocacy organization Racial Unity Now. The group is calling the recent cluster of arrests the first known "soft raid" in Whatcom County, describing a shift in enforcement tactics from roadside intercepts to more targeted, undercover approaches near or at the workplace.
The facility at the center of the detentions is Premier Packing, a processing operation in Lynden, a small agricultural city of about 15,000 people roughly 10 miles north of Bellingham. Racial Unity Now, known locally as RUN, said it gathered the information from local partners and verified it with Premier Packing's ownership and employees.
What Advocates Are Saying
RUN Executive Director Jeremy Dorrough said federal immigration agents appear to have shifted their approach in Whatcom County. Until now, the primary enforcement method had been roadside stops and checkpoints set up on county roads, often timed to coincide with paydays when workers were more likely to be traveling between job sites and home.
"We're really concerned about the secretive approach to enforcing immigration laws," Dorrough said. "The typical thing that they've been doing is roadside stops. They track people leaving, they have checkpoints set up on local county roads and, particularly on paydays, they just lurk."
The recent arrests represent something different in Dorrough's assessment: targeted intercepts that RUN describes as a soft raid, meaning federal agents moved on a specific employer rather than intercepting workers at random on public roads. He called it the first major immigration enforcement action at a Whatcom County employer since ICE detained 37 employees at Mt. Baker Roofing in April 2025.
RUN estimates that approximately a dozen of the more than 50 workers detained since March have since been deported. The organization did not provide a breakdown of which federal agency was responsible for the various detentions, and neither Premier Packing nor U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement responded to requests for comment from the outlet that broke the story.
Geography and Context
Whatcom County's location directly on the Canadian border makes it a consistent focus of federal border and immigration enforcement. The Blaine Sector of U.S. Customs and Border Protection is headquartered in the county and is responsible for monitoring more than 100 miles of international boundary. Agents from Blaine Sector have authority to conduct immigration enforcement operations within a 100-mile band of the border, which covers the entirety of Whatcom County and much of western Washington.
Dorrough said he believes the county's border proximity contributes to the volume of enforcement activity. "My other concern is that they're just trying to reach regional quotas here, because they don't want to have to commute, essentially," he said, suggesting that agents based in the county find local agricultural employers more accessible targets than operations further inland.
Agriculture is the backbone of Lynden's economy. The Lynden area and surrounding Whatcom County farmland produce berries, potatoes, dairy, and other crops that rely heavily on seasonal and year-round agricultural labor. Processing facilities like Premier Packing are part of the supply chain that connects field harvests to packaged products sold across the country. Disruption to the workforce at facilities like this has ripple effects through local food production, and advocacy groups say the fear generated by enforcement activity extends well beyond those directly detained.
What Happens Next
Racial Unity Now has been the primary local organization tracking immigration enforcement in Whatcom County and providing resources to affected families. The group works with legal partners to connect detained individuals with immigration attorneys and provides information to families about the deportation process and how to access detained relatives.
Federal immigration enforcement operations do not require advance notice to local governments, employers, or advocacy organizations. Washington State has laws limiting local law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration detention requests in some circumstances, but federal agents operating independently are not bound by those limitations.
Residents seeking more information about immigration rights or resources for affected families in Whatcom County can contact Racial Unity Now directly. The organization has maintained an active presence at community meetings and with local media throughout the 2025 and 2026 enforcement surge. Washington state's ACLU of Washington also maintains resources for people facing immigration enforcement and for community members who witness enforcement actions and want to document or report them.
The situation at Premier Packing is ongoing, and the number of detained workers could change as new enforcement actions occur or as detained individuals are processed through the immigration court system. This story will continue to develop in the days ahead.
