They were among dozens of employees of Mount Baker Roofing in Bellingham, Washington, detained this week and taken to a processing center in Tacoma.

A worker at a roofing company in Bellingham, Washington, that was raided by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said Friday that masked agents in tactical gear swarmed the property with guns drawn, detaining three of his family members and dozens of co-workers.

The worker, a U.S. citizen who requested anonymity because many of his relatives are in the country without proper documentation, said his 21-year-old brother from Michoacan, Mexico, and two of their cousins were apprehended in the Wednesday raid.

He arrived at work at his usual time, around 7 a.m., he said, and “many trucks started arriving.”

“I started yelling ‘Run, immigration is here!’” he said. “Workers ran towards a wooded area nearby, but ICE officers were already there waiting for them.”

He described the last time he saw his sibling.

“My brother touched my back before he started running, and I guess that was his way of saying goodbye to me,” the man said.