The president of the Boston University College Republicans appeared to claim credit for an immigration raid on a car wash in Allston in which nine workers were detained, saying in a social media post that he had been “calling ICE for months on end” to “detain these criminals.”
Zachary Segal, president of the university’s GOP student chapter, made the comment in a post on X on Nov. 7, above a Boston.com article about the raid.
“This week they finally responded to my request,” Segal wrote. “As someone who lives in the neighborhood, I’ve seen how American jobs are being given away to those with no right to be here.”
“Pump up the numbers!” he added.
I’ve been calling ICE for months on end. This week they finally responded to my request to detain these criminals. As someone who lives in the neighborhood, I’ve seen how American jobs are being given away to those with no right to be here. Pump up the numbers! https://t.co/jJtm9KzvU6
— Zac Segal (@endthehiding) November 7, 2025
An ICE spokesperson declined to comment on Segal’s claim or say whether his calls led to the raid.
Five women and four men were detained in the Nov. 4 raid, and many of them hold legal status and valid work permits, according to their attorney, who said they have no criminal record to warrant deportation.
Segal declined to comment Thursday beyond confirming he had made the post. But later Thursday morning, he made a follow-up post that included a screenshot of a Boston Globe article about his involvement, writing “we must stand up for this country.” (The follow-up was reposted by the official BU College Republicans account).
The campus group could not immediately be reached for comment, and a spokesperson for BU declined to comment.
According to BU’s athletics page, Segal is a junior at the school and a member of its track team. His bio on the page lists his hometown as London and says he attended high school in the United Kingdom. In a post on his Facebook page, Segal said he is “originally from Miami Beach.”
He is an intern for Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Shortsleeve.
Other student leaders on campus distanced themselves from Segal’s remarks.
“Although we support the free expression of all students, neither this individual, BU College Republicans, nor their statements are representative of BU student government or the wider BU community,” said Tony Wu, vice president of the college’s undergraduate student body.
Gretchen Fuller, president of the BU College Democrats chapter, said that her group “completely condemns” Segal’s post and that it would suspend ongoing collaborations with the College Republicans in response.
“A horrible lack of empathy is being shown with that,” she said. “It’s just not a good thing to do to people.”
Todd Pomerleau, an attorney who represents the nine workers, said Segal’s comment “speaks for itself.”
“Nine people were arrested with no criminal or administrative warrant, and taken from their families and livelihoods without any due process, based on what?” he said. “An assumption that they were ‘criminals’? This narrative will be proved wrong in a court of law.”
Several of the nine workers have been granted bond hearings, according to court records. Pomerleau said some may be released as soon as next week.
Coworkers and immigration advocates have said that many of the workers had legal status but were unable to immediately produce their documentation to the agents.
“Some people left their property, their work permits in their lockers here,” said the manager of the car wash, who declined to give his name out of fear of retribution. “I could bring it to them and get them released. But I don’t know where they are.”
The raid occurred around 9:30 a.m., according to the manager. Over a dozen vehicles — one employee said they counted 17 — surrounded the business, blocking the entrances and telling customers in their cars to leave.
The raid was clearly a show of force, the manager said. “Why bring in an armored vehicle?” he said. “What are we, terrorists?”
“It’s not right,” he said, adding that he is a US citizen. “I do everything right, and still they show up here to violate my rights. Just because I look Latino."
Pomerleau said it took him several days to get in contact with all of the detainees. Four are being held in Massachusetts and four have been transferred to a women’s facility in Vermont.
One woman is being held in Texas, despite a court order to keep her in Massachusetts; she had already been moved out of state by the time the order took effect, Pomerleau said.
Amanda Eisenhour, a volunteer with LUCE, a community network that monitors immigration enforcement, said her group met with family members of the workers.
“They’re pressuring some people into trying to self-deport. They’re throwing everything at the wall, I would say, to try and get people to make decisions that are not good for them.”
Advocates said the nine workers were most likely detained simply because they were outside the car wash when the raid occurred. Immigration agents did not enter the car wash building, Pomerleau said, and none of the workers inside were detained.
ICE has described the raid as a “targeted immigration enforcement operation,” adding that one detainee “chose to commit a felony” by reentering the country after previously being deported.
Pomerleau disputes that, noting that, depending on the circumstances, reentries are not always felonies. None of the other detainees had criminal records to warrant deportation, he said.
Segal attended high school in the UK,where he participated in track, cross country, field hockey, and cricket, and represented England in the National School Games, according to his biography on the BU athletics website.
At a campaign event outside the State House on Thursday, Shortsleeve said Segal was an “active intern” on his campaign. The candidate said he was “not here today to talk about tweets from a college kid.”
“What I can tell you, where I stand on this is we’ve got to enforce the law,” he said. “We should start with [deporting] the worst first. I believe due process will play out as it has in many other cases.”
William Branson Donahue, chair of College Republicans of America, said on X Thursday that Segal would not be removed from his post as chapter president. “Patriots call ICE,” Donahue wrote.
But Steve Kerrigan, chair of the state Democratic Party, denounced Segal’s actions.
“It is absolutely abhorrent that anyone would intentionally target hard working mothers and fathers and members of our community like this,” Kerrigan said. “It’s even worse to brag about it afterwards. This is yet another insight into how the future leaders of the Republican Party think and act. Brian Shortsleeve and every Republican candidate need to immediately denounce this hateful behavior that caused families to be torn apart.”
The BU College Republicans drew attention after the death of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, saying they had been “silenced by fear of social intimidation, academic penalty, or hostility” at the school.
“Our main goal is to create a place where debate and conversation is genuinely encouraged and not frowned upon and people aren’t intimidated,” Segal said at the time.
On campus Thursday, some students were upset about Segal’s comments.
“We don’t really expect that behavior coming from BU students,” said Bella Pickus, a senior film and TV major. “It’s kind of shocking to hear, honestly, that someone would call regular working people criminals.”
Maha Yehia, a sophomore health science major, said her “jaw dropped” when she saw the post, adding she was worried about the safety of the detained workers.
“A lot of [Segal’s] peers are international students,” she said. “Entire lives and families are being changed because of one call or one tweet that he did.”
Travis Andersen of the Globe staff and correspondent Katarina Schmeiszer contributed to this report.
Truman Dickerson can be reached at truman.dickerson@globe.com. Camilo Fonseca can be reached at camilo.fonseca@globe.com. Follow him on X @fonseca_esq and on Instagram @camilo_fonseca.reports.