ICE raids against immigrants are reaching an unexpected limit. On Thursday, in Camarillo, a multitude of agents spent the day in a cannabis farm where they chased hundreds of them and arrested about 200. In persecution, a man fell from a greenhouse, more than nine meters height, and suffered critical injuries, breaking his neck and being hospitalized urgently. This Friday, the Agricultural Workers Union has announced that man has died.
The Californians know Camarillo for being a city on the outskirts, to the north, in an hour of road from Los Angeles, work and residential area for thousands of people. The most famous of it are huge outletsbut it is also the seat of – due to its proximity to the Canal Islands, a privileged place of study of the ocean – and is a place of planting, having a multitude of land. In fact, in Camarillo one of the largest cannabis cultivation farms – Legal in California – is located around the world, with almost 50 hectares, the so -called Glass House Farms, which has another headquarters about 50 kilometers north, in the city of Carpentry, very close to Santa Barbara. And precisely on both farms, on Thursday morning, the ones made hard raid against their workers. With the arrest of 200 people, on Thursday it became the day with the greatest amount of arrests made in a single day in the history of California.
Chaos was noticed throughout the day, as well as fear. Camarillo was the epicenter. It all started at ten in the morning, and things soon tested. To stop immigrants, agents, distributed by the planting fields and on the entrance roads to the facilities, of great power that ended with 14 people injured, of which four were treated by ambulances right there and at least five had to be hospitalized.
The union has protested by these “chaotic raids”, which describe as “violent and cruel”, and that “terrify the communities of Americans, interrupt the food chain, threaten lives and separate families”: “Many workers, including US citizens, were retained by federal authorities in the farm for eight or more hours. released after being forced to erase from their phones photos and videos of the raid. ”
On Friday afternoon, President Donald Trump has also talked about the matter. In his usual exalted tone, he has written on his social network, Truth, who has seen how “thugs threw stones and bricks to ICE agents while they went with their cars on the road”, in reference to a video where people are seen throwing large stones at cars and that seems, without confirming, having been recorded in the middle of the raid chaos. The president has asked to “stop those slugs, using any necessary means”, and has affirmed in that message that gave “total authorization to the ICE to protect themselves, just as it protects people”: “I do not want to see attacks against a car of agents of the law! Guarantee immediate authorization for detention and imprisonment!”.
The head of borders and customs appointed by Donald Trump, Rodney Scott, who had found 10 minors in the facilities, all irregular immigrants, and eight of them not accompanied. “There is an investigation on child exploitation. This is the California of (Gavin) Newsom,” he said hard. The Governor of the State: “Children running to get away from the gases, crying on the phone because they have taken their mothers of the fields. Trump calls me garbage, but he is the real garbage.”
Kids running from tear gas, crying on the phone because their mother was just taken from the fields.
Trump calls me “Newscum” — but he’s the real scum.
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom)
ICE spent the whole day at the facilities. About two in the afternoon, the agents, including some members of the National Guard, had formed a barrier that prevented all access. When the night fell, there were still workers and members of the ICE in the plantation, as well as hundreds of people protesting. Some neighbors said that, although they were citizens and showed their documents to the agents, they had been arrested and taken to local facilities. After verifying that their documentation was correct, they allowed them to leave. Some of the workers could not return for their cars and their homes until after seven in the afternoon.
There were up to 500 people demonstrating in the area. Certain witnesses told the local news that they were simply there, driving, when they were arrested. Many relatives of the workers went to the farms to see what the fate of theirs was, and even some activists tried to paralyze the exit trucks that, in Camarillo, were detained to the workers. They were arriving in the morning throughout the day, to know if their children, couples or brothers were still there or had been arrested, because many of them had lost their phones or have been confiscated.
A neighbor of the area called Darria Rosalz told the news that had come to the field to find her cousin, worker. “They have already taken it,” said serious and angry. “It’s very sad. I was there when they have arrived. None was doing anything wrong. They were just working in the fields.” Another woman, Dalia Perez, explained in the local newspaper that they had taken her mother, worker of the fields, who has been living in the area for more than 30 years. She felt “angry, desperate”: “He has not done anything, just work for us and for a better life.”
The protests were of such magnitude that even some observers were arrested, as was the case of a professor of Philosophy of Valstate, the University. An activist, at the same time a teacher’s student, explained to who was arrested when he tried to help a wheelchair to whom the agents had pushed
Vianey Lopez, supervisor of the fifth district of Ventura, a county to which Camarillo belongs, said it was “a very unfortunate situation”, and acknowledged that there were “hundreds of people” and that it was impossible for them to know how many they had been arrested. “It is a very worrying situation for the safety of those who manifest themselves with rage and disappointment for what is.”
Federal agents are executing a search warrant at this marijuana farm. Agents have already arrested multiple individuals for impeding this operation and will continue to make arrests. Don’t interfere. You will be arrested and charged with a federal offense.
— U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli (@USAttyEssayli)
From the (DHS), a spokesman said that “the forces of the DHS order are executing orders in a marijuana installation. Our brave agents will continue to enforce the law.” The federal prosecutor appointed by Trump and assigned to Los Angeles, Bill Essayli, “Federal agents are executing a registration order in this marijuana farm”, along with several images of local news. “The agents have already arrested several people for hindering this operation and will continue to carry out arrests.” “Do not interfere,” he demanded. “He will be arrested and accused of a federal crime.” In addition, – with a reward of $ 50,000 – about a man who triggered a gun during the raids in Camarillo.
During this Friday, the farm facilities have remained closed. In X, they have hung a brief statement explaining that the ICE went to them and that “they fulfilled all the guarantees of the investigation”, and that they will contribute more novelties “in case they are necessary.”
