Maryland Woman Allegedly Targeted Roofing Crew Using Undocumented Labour, Then Called ICE After Job

A Cambridge homeowner is accused of hiring six Guatemalan roofers, allowing them to begin a three-day job worth £7,500 ($10,000), then summoning federal immigration agents while the men were still on her roof. ICE disputes the tip-off claim. No charges have been filed.

On 25 March 2026, six Guatemalan workers employed by a roofing contractor were detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents while still working at a residential property in Cambridge.

A crew member, Bryan Polanco, filmed the entire arrest live on social media and publicly accused the homeowner of tipping off ICE to avoid settling a bill of roughly £7,500 ($10,000). The footage has since been watched millions of times across multiple platforms and has drawn sharp responses from immigration lawyers, advocacy groups, and federal agencies.

Six Workers Detained on the Roof, Arrest Filmed Live

Polanco, a Dominican national with permanent US residency who was part of the same crew, livestreamed the arrest for approximately 30 minutes. Because of his legal status he was not detained alongside his colleagues. In the footage, agents in tactical vests can be seen surrounding the property while the workers, aged between 18 and 40, descend from the roof. A ladder appears in the footage, and multiple reports allege that the homeowner handed it directly to agents to help them reach the men.

Polanco narrated events in real time and at one point turned the camera toward the homeowner, who was visible tidying her yard as the arrests unfolded. 'That is the same woman,' he said. 'We came to fix this lady's house, and she is the one who turned us in. Fixing up her house and still with hatred in her heart.' When agents left with the six men, the crew's van remained outside, doors open, loaded with tools.

In a follow-up interview with Spanish-language broadcaster Univision DC, Polanco described the moment ICE arrived: 'We practically had a project to start today. When they started the work, the homeowner kind of called immigration.' He also told the outlet that the homeowner had made her position clear. 'What she did tell me, and I told one of the other guys, is that if immigrants come back again to finish the project, she will always call ICE.'

The men were reported to have travelled from Glen Burnie to the Cambridge property when authorities intervened. According to Univision, the wife of one of the detained workers, who identified herself as five months pregnant, said her husband came to the United States for a better life and not to cause trouble.

ICE Pushes Back on the Tip-Off Allegation

The most significant factual challenge to the viral narrative came from ICE itself. A spokesperson told TMZ on 26 March 2026 that the detention was not triggered by a call from the homeowner. 'This was a targeted enforcement operation, not a tip from a caller,' the agency said.

ICE confirmed that agents conducted operations near Cambridge on 23 March, resulting in the arrest of six individuals it described as illegal aliens, several of whom had final orders of removal and one of whom had a prior conviction for illegal re-entry. The agency added that during the encounter the men had refused to comply with lawful orders, taunted officers, and attempted to flee.

ICE has not publicly identified the homeowner or addressed the allegation that she provided a ladder to agents. As of publication, the Department of Homeland Security had not issued a broader statement, and Cambridge police have not announced any investigation into the homeowner's conduct. The roofing company, whose shirts in the footage appear to identify it as Allied Remodeling of Central MD, has not publicly commented. The homeowner's identity remains unknown.

The timing dispute also runs through Polanco's own account. His statement to Univision suggests the workers had only just begun the job when ICE appeared, which conflicts with the claim, repeated widely on social media, that the homeowner waited until the project was essentially complete before making the call. Both accounts agree on the core fact: the homeowner is alleged to have known the immigration status of her contractors and, at some point during the job, made contact that preceded or coincided with the federal operation.

Maryland Law and the Felony Question

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, responded to the footage with a pointed legal observation. 'Very serious and disturbing allegation about a homeowner calling ICE on people working on her roof to avoid having to pay them,' he wrote on X. 'While the facts aren't fully in yet, if the allegation is true it seems that this would be a felony under Maryland law.'

Reichlin-Melnick cited Maryland Criminal Law Code Section 3-701, which prohibits a person from obtaining money, property, labour, or services from another person if consent to provide those services was obtained through the wrongful use of actual or threatened notification of law enforcement about that person's undocumented immigration status. The statute covers both the threat of reporting and the act itself, and it applies to withholding wages as well as coercing labour.

No charges have been brought. Prosecutors have not made any public statement about the incident, and there is no indication that a formal investigation into the homeowner's conduct has opened. Legal experts cited across coverage have noted that proving the homeowner acted with the specific intent of avoiding payment would be central to any prosecution. The statute's application to this case hinges on facts that remain publicly unverified.

Six men went up on a roof in Cambridge on a Tuesday morning looking for a day's pay, and by the end of it, the only thing certain is that none of them came back down the same way they went up.