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The Journal.

"I'm Thinking I'm 100% Legal." Then ICE Raided His Company.

The Journal.

The Wall Street Journal

Daily News, Business News, News

4.25.3K Ratings

🗓️ 26 June 2025

⏱️ 20 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Gary Rohwer owns Glenn Valley Foods and lends his name to the company’s signature product: Gary’s QuickSteaks. He says he built his business with the help of mostly immigrant workers, whose legal status he says his company vetted using the government’s E-Verify System. This month, his plant was raided by ICE. He speaks with Annie Minoff about what happened, his industry and what’s next for his company.  Further Listening: - Why Latino Consumers Are Spending Less  - Inside ICE’s Aggressive Approach to Arresting Migrants  - Deportations Could Upend This Parachute Factory  Sign up for WSJ’s free What’s News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

President Trump took office promising to carry out the largest mass deportation in U.S. history,

0:11.4

and his administration has been trying to carry out that pledge,

0:14.9

partly through workplace raids in industries that rely heavily on immigrant labor.

0:19.6

One of those industries is meatpacking.

0:22.5

Gary Rower knows the business well.

0:25.0

Hi, Gary.

0:25.8

Hi.

0:26.7

You can hear me okay?

0:28.1

Yes, I can hear you just fine, ma'am.

0:32.4

Gary's been in the meat industry since the 1980s.

0:35.4

He's the CEO of a Nebraska-based company called Glen Valley Foods.

0:39.5

Its signature product bears his name.

0:41.9

Gary's Quicksteaks.

0:43.5

There are small pieces of thinly sliced steak, about the size of a nickel,

0:46.9

that have been frozen together.

0:48.7

And then when you lay it on the grill,

0:50.6

it releases in 60 seconds into a pile of thinly sliced steak for burritos,

0:57.3

tacos, salads, steak and eggs, filly cheese steak sandwiches.

1:06.0

Gary's quick steaks are produced in his meat processing plant in Omaha, before being shipped

1:10.6

out and sold across the country.

1:12.7

More than 100 employees work in the production line at his plant,

1:15.8

slicing, pressing, and freezing meat.

...

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