A Ketchum coffee shop found itself short two workers last week after federal immigration officers took two of its bakers into custody for deportation to Peru.
"Both are Peruvian nationals and both are what we call immigration fugitives," said Lorie Dankers, a spokeswoman in Seattle for the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
An ICE Fugitive Operations Team made the arrests at Java on Fourth on Wednesday, May 20, around 2:30 p.m.
"It's kind of upsetting, just before Memorial Day weekend," Java owner Todd Rippo said Friday. "All I know is they took two of my bakers, people I've had for a decade.
"They had everything the law requires them to have and you show up at work and they're gone. I don't know why it would happen now and not nine years ago. They've worked at restaurants around the valley. It's not just me. I've employed their families for years."
Neither Rippo nor Dankers would release the women's names. One of them was known as Carmen.
Dankers said both women have been "immigration fugitives" since 2003, when they appeared before a federal judge and were ordered out of the United States.
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"They failed to comply with the judge's order," she said. "They were fugitives. We learned where they were and we went out and made the arrests. These people have had their opportunity for due process."
Dankers declined to say where the women were taken or when they will be deported.
"They're in ICE custody and we will work to effect their removal to Peru," she said.
Terry Smith: tsmith@mtexpress.com
