Local News

New Bedford Market Basket suspends dozens of employees as DHS identifies 167 unauthorized workers

At least 47 employees of the Market Basket in New Bedford were suspended, an advocate said, "directly related to ICE activities."

Market Basket in Haverhill. Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe

July 29, 2025

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More than 150 people working at Market Basket were found to be unauthorized to work in the U.S., the Department of Homeland Security announced, leading to the suspension of dozens of the chain’s New Bedford employees.

At least 47 employees of the Market Basket on Sawyer Street were suspended July 21, according to Adrian Ventura, the executive director of the New Bedford nonprofit Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores. Ventura shared the details in an online fundraiser to support the organization and the workers’ families with food, rent, bills, bond, and legal fees.

Homeland Security Investigations issued Market Basket “a Notice of Suspect Documents” June 25, DHS said in a statement, meaning employees’ I-9 forms were invalid. An I-9 is an employee eligibility verification form completed by both citizens and noncitizens with legal status.

Its investigation found that 167 employees were unauthorized to work, according to the agency.

“No arrests have been made at this time, and the investigation is ongoing,” a senior DHS official said in an emailed statement. “Worksite enforcement remains a cornerstone of our efforts to protect public safety, national security, and economic stability while rescuing individuals who may be victims of labor trafficking or exploitation.”

Market Basket said the DHS investigation into the I-9s of employees started in 2023. A company spokesperson confirmed that 167 employees “had irregularities in their paperwork.”

Employees were given the opportunity to update their paperwork, the Market Basket spokesperson said, and 47 employees did not.

“(DHS) investigated the paperwork of those employees and recently found several had not been properly updated, leading to their suspensions,” the spokesperson said. “Market Basket looks forward to welcoming the employees back to work as soon as they update their paperwork.”

DHS and Market Basket did not confirm whether the 167 Market Basket employees work in New Bedford or elsewhere across the chain.

Many of the employees had valid permits when they were hired, but some permits have since lapsed, Ventura told The Boston Globe. Many have worked at the store for more than a decade, he continued. He added that several employees lacking work permits have been suspended indefinitely.

Employees were called into a meeting with Market Basket management, Ventura told the newspaper, where they were asked to present their work authorization.

The store confirmed that the suspensions were “directly related to ICE activities,” Ventura wrote on the GoFundMe.

“There are mothers that have three or four kids, single mothers,“ Ventura told the Globe, speaking Spanish. One employee’s “husband was caught up in an immigration raid while working construction and was deported. Now she’s in limbo … It’s a complete disaster.”

President Donald Trump‘s administration first purported that ICE would be targeting immigrants with criminal records for deportation. But, an increasing number of migrants with no criminal convictions are being arrested, ABC News reported earlier this month.

“The employment of illegal aliens also incentivizes dangerous and illegal practices, including social security fraud,” the DHS senior officials said. “Behind every stolen social security number uncovered these operations is a real American—mothers, fathers, students, and disabled workers—now facing devastating financial, emotional, and legal fallout.”

New Bedford’s immigrant population targeted by ICE

More than a fifth of New Bedford’s population, or about 20,000 people, are foreign-born, according to census data. ICE has repeatedly targeted people in New Bedford. In April, federal agents used a sledgehammer to break a car window while arresting a man without a criminal record who had entered the country illegally. The man was released a month later.

Last month, eight crew members for a drywall company were detained by ICE, according to The Standard-Times of New Bedford, and multiple men were detained near a restaurant in the city’s South End neighborhood, the New Bedford Light reported.

Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores’ GoFundMe notes that three Guatemalan car wash workers were also arrested by ICE in March.

“Since then, there have been several additional ICE raids in our community, including two that have involved physical violence,” Ventura wrote. “We know that the government has its eye on communities like ours, with large numbers of vulnerable immigrants.”

This story has been updated to reflect additional information from Market Basket regarding the company’s response to the DHS investigation.