Federal agents target El Cajon business suspected of employing undocumented immigrants

Federal law enforcement descended in unincorporated El Cajon on Thursday to execute a search warrant at a business suspected of knowingly employing undocumented immigrants, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Dozens of law enforcement officers with bulletproof vests and individuals in handcuffs forming lines were seen in the industrial area near Airport Drive and Magnolia Avenue in El Cajon around 1 p.m. Thursday.

On Friday, The operation targeted multiple buildings operated by BJS & T Enterprises, which operates as San Diego Powder & Protective Coatings (SDPC). The search warrant unsealed Thursday, which was approved by U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara L. Major, said investigators were going after the workplace for knowingly employing undocumented immigrants who used fraudulent documents and making false statements to the Social Security Administration.

On Friday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California announced in a news release that four of those taken into custody on Thursday had been charged in federal court, including SDPC's general manager, John Washburn. The 57-year-old GM is accused of "conspiracy to harbor aliens," a felony that can carry a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. His three co-defendants are charged with felony "attestation," essentially using false documents to work in the U.S., a charge that exposes them to similar sentencing maximums.

ICE has not answered how many people in total were detained on Thursday at SDPC or how many agents were involved.

In Friday's release from the U.S. Attorney's office, officials said the investigation was part of Operation Take Back America, which was just launched this month. The statement said it is a "nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime."

However, none of the defendants who appeared in court Friday were charged with any violent crimes or connection to cartels.

The four men are due back in federal court on April 8.

Agents searched the four buildings on the property and interviewed 60-70 workers — around 20 were taken into custody, but all of them were detained and questioned for several hours.

After the building had been secured and people taken into custody, ICE HSI Special Agent in Charge Shawn Gibson came out to update the media.

"Today, HSI, along with many of our federal partners from [the Department of Justice] and the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Inspector General are executing a criminal search warrant at the business located behind me for work-site-enforcement violations," Gibson said. "Due to the ongoing nature, [it's] very limited to what we can explain about it, but I will say that the search warrant has been unsealed by the court …"

A significant federal presence remained at SDPC into Thursday night.

The search warrant

SDPC performs work under multiple contracts with the federal government. As part of those contracts, it's required to electronically verify the employment eligibility of workers.

SDPC first came to the attention of federal agents during a drug trafficking investigation in October 2022, according to the search warrant, which goes on to say that the pair of suspects worked there but had been terminated by the time federal agents checked in with the business.

Federal investigators said they determined that the former employees had provided SDPC with permanent resident cards and Social Security cards, which the business then shared with agents. According to the search warrant, the documents provided by the former employees caught up in the drug probe should have been easily detected as fake with the federal government’s e-verify program for checking documents.

In addition, in February 2025, a cooperating source from the 2022 investigation told agents a man wanted for illegally reentering the country had worked at SDPC. The agent looked at that person's SDPC personnel file and found a copy of a permanent resident card and a Social Security card with his name on it. The problem, the agent said he determined, was that the Social Security number on the card belonged to someone else. This incident kick-started the larger investigation.

Then, on March 5 of this year, the informant recorded a conversation with SDPC's general manager, in which, agents believe, the GM acknowledged knowing that workers were using fake documents.

Two weeks later, an undercover agent applied for a job at SDPC using fraudulent documents and was hired, despite the fact that the documents he supplied should have been recognized as fakes just by looking at them. In his first two days on the job, according to the search warrant, the agent was tasked with working on military equipment.

Prior to the raid, seven people working at SDPC were identified as ineligible to work in the U.S., according to the search warrant. More than a dozen were arrested at the scene on Thursday.

Philip Johnson, the business owner, spoke with NBC 7 on Friday and said he believes the investigation began when two of his employees were arrested.

"Since then, there's been an ongoing investigation of my facility and the personnel that work here," he said.

Johnson went on to say that he is confident in his hiring practices and follows California law.

"We do the best we can to vet our people. We have them sign the I-9 form. We take copies of their driver's license and their social security cards, and we have all of our files. The investigators came in, and they took all of those files and we're cooperating with them."

Johnson said his business has contracts for the U.S. Government, including a recent contract with the U.S. Border Patrol. During that process, he said he submitted 15 people for background checks, and during the process, some were flagged with bad documents.

Workers, family members and advocates react to the arrests

The incident took an emotional toll on workers, their families and advocates that stood outside.

"I hope they are bad guys. I hope it's not just hard working people," said Mike Gonzalas, who owns the parts store near SDPC.

An employee who wished only to be identified as John was detained for four-and-a-half hours before he was allowed to leave. He says the employees were separated into several different rooms and that the agents were respectful, but this was the first time he had experienced this type of interrogation.

"It was a long day," John said. "It's my first time being involved in this. It's kind of crazy. I have never been through this. It's happening everywhere, and now, it's happening here."

As the operation continued into the night, a crowd of friends, family, coworkers and human rights activists was growing.

"There are human rights violations going on here, and I wanted to bear witness to what was happening," Erin Tsurumo Grassi, a human rights advocate, told NBC 7. "Everyone has a right to due process. Everybody has a right to be treated with dignity in custody, and those are the things we call upon the government to do.

Evelin Leyva told NBC 7 at the scene that her brother-in-law works for the company and was inside the factory during Thursday's incident. She thinks he was detained.

"I feel so sad because everyone who were inside, they're just working," Leyva said. "They're not doing nothing. They're not criminals. So I don't know why they're doing this ... He's just a hard worker. He's not a criminal. We're not here because we're criminals. We're here because of the American Dream. Everyone who comes comes to work. I understand there's bad people, but they need to understand good people, too."

Investigators were looking for operational records like shift schedules, job appointments and contracts, as well as financial records and payroll and tax information, according to the unsealed warrant. They also planned to access personnel files and internal communications that could tell them details about individuals' employment at SDPC.

Local officials react

U.S. Rep. Sara Jacobs, who oversees the 51st District, which includes El Cajon, said her office "has submitted inquiries to DHS and ICE to find out what's going on and ensure due process is being followed, but we don't have further details on this operation."

The El Cajon City Council, of which El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells is a voting member, recently passed a resolution that solidified the city's intent to work with federal immigration authorities, but it's not clear if the city aided investigators in this instance.

Wells cast doubts that the city's resolution had an involvement in Thursday's enforcement, saying he didn't know when, exactly, the operation would occur, or where, but he was told that immigration officials would be in town this week.

“I know nothing about this particular group of people," Wells said. "I'm just telling you: I'm putting the pieces together based upon what I see happening around the country, my own discussions. I would be very shocked if these weren't dangerous people."

The business is located in unincorporated El Cajon, which is overseen by the county of San Diego. The county's policy is to not aid federal immigration officials -- a policy that San Diego County Sheriff Kelly Martinez has said she would not comply with. Instead, she said, the sheriff's department would continue to proactively notify ICE of individuals with criminal convictions permitted under state law.

NBC 7 has several reporters at the scene working to gather the latest information. Refresh this story for the latest.

With reporting by NBC 7's Mike Dorfman — Ed.