A homeowner in Cambridge, Maryland, reportedly called ICE on six Guatemalan roofers right after they’d nearly finished a three-day job, still owing them around $10,000. Their coworker, Bryan Polanco, livestreamed everything. ICE agents showed up on March 25 and detained the workers while they were still up on the roof. The homeowner apparently even handed over a ladder so the agents could reach them.
Polanco streamed the arrest live for about half an hour. His video took off quickly. People started sharing it all over social media, and before long, it had thousands of views and comments. The incident caught attention, especially among folks who were already talking about ICE crackdowns at work and the way undocumented workers get treated.
In a livestream that has been making the rounds, you can watch six workers getting arrested by ICE at a home in Cambridge, Maryland. They are shouting in Spanish, saying things like, “She called the *expletive* law on us, and now we’re totally *expletive*!” and “They surrounded us!”
Throughout the video, Polanco narrates what’s happening. Near the end, he captures the homeowner on camera, cleaning up her place right after the arrests. The workers’ van sits abandoned outside, doors wide open, full of expensive tools nobody grabbed. When the video wraps up, Polanco turns to the camera and says, “Seeing it is not the same as experiencing it — I’ve seen many videos, and sadly today I had to experience it.”
One of the workers who got detained has a wife who is five months pregnant, with two little kids at home. She told Univision that her husband and the others came to the U.S. to build a better life, not to cause trouble.
Maryland’s labor laws guarantee pay for work that’s finished, no matter someone’s immigration status, so the homeowner could be on the hook for the unpaid $10,000. So far, ICE and Cambridge police haven’t said anything publicly about what happened, and the homeowner’s name still hasn’t been released.
Internet Reacts to Maryland Homeowner Calling ICE on Her Own Workers
Reactions online were overwhelmingly critical of the homeowner. Many called for her to be publicly identified and held accountable, with one commenter writing, “These people need to be identified and public shaming is a must.”
Others focused on the legal angle, arguing, “If she hired them knowing their status and did this, she needs to be prosecuted for hiring undocumented workers.”
Several pointed out the hypocrisy of the situation directly, with one writing, “She wasn’t so concerned about their citizenship when she hired them.” Others expressed concern about the broader implications of the incident, with one commenter writing, “I would be terrified to treat people like that — you are really screwing someone over badly and leave yourself open to issues at some point in the future.”
The most widely shared reaction was simply “Karma will find its way to her.”
People are talking about this story because it shows how some use immigration enforcement as a way to dodge paying workers. It’s hitting a nerve right now, especially since ICE’s actions in workplaces are facing a lot of criticism. The incident was caught on camera, including the homeowner cleaning up after the arrests. That footage doesn’t just show what happened, it lays out the whole story in a way that’s hard to ignore.
Cambridge, Maryland, isn’t a big place. About 12,000 people live there. But millions have watched what went down on that rooftop on March 25. And the debate it sparked, about who gets to call ICE and why, is nowhere near finished.
