Multiple workers detained during immigration raid in Pittsburgh

A business owner in Pittsburgh said six of his workers were detained by immigration enforcement agents during a raid on Tuesday morning. 

Surveillance video shows employees of OK Service standing by their vans at Orchard Place and Knox Avenue in Mount Oliver just before 8 a.m., when a black car pulls up. Then the workers take off running as agents begin chasing them, according to the video. 

Omar Millan, who owns the gutter company, said he was not at the job site on Tuesday morning when the raid happened. Millan said he was getting materials when he got a call from his wife and raced over to Orchard Place and Knox Avenue. By the time he arrived, he said six of his workers were detained. However, Millan later added that at least three workers were released.

"I feel right now really bad for my guys, bad for my business," Millan said. "Every guy have paper or something like that, license from PA, paperwork, or social."

According to Millan, they all have work documentation showing they're in the process of immigrating, with at least one of the workers having a green card. However, KDKA could not independently confirm on Tuesday if any of the men are wanted for crimes.

Katie Murphy was just feet away at Hilltop Community Children's Center, where she's a preschool teacher, when the raid happened.

"My son, who is 8, saw more than I did. His comment to me when it was over was, 'I thought monsters weren't real,'" Murphy said.

Murphy said some of her coworkers went outside to bang pots and pans in support of the detainees on the ground. Volunteers with Frontline Dignity, a nonprofit organization that focuses on immigrant rights, also responded and are working to direct the impacted families to the proper resources.

"We remain committed to defending the dignity of all of our neighbors and kind of walking with them as they go through what's likely one of the worst moments of their lives," said Jaime Martinez, executive director of Frontline Dignity. 

As for Millan, he said he worries the situation could get worse.

"These guys have the paperwork, they have everything, but because maybe we use Spanish all the time, they're thinking we're illegals," Millan said.

KDKA reached out to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for comment, but did not hear back on Tuesday.