The United Farm Workers union says that a farmworker died when they fell from a greenhouse during an immigration raid at two weed farms in Southern California. Reports say the guy fell several stories from a building on a farm in Camarillo and later died from his injuries.
In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said, “This man was not in and has not been in CBP or ICE custody.” The person in question climbed to the top of a garden and then fell 30 feet, even though police were not after him. CBP sent a medic to the spot right away to get him medical help as soon as possible.
El Centro Sector Chief Gregory Bovino, who was in charge of the operation, said that agents helped the man at the scene and denied that he was being chased, calling those claims “more lies by those who support illegal aliens.” He said the man fell through a glass roof while running away and added, “Do what the police say, and you won’t hurt yourself.”
The man’s death is being looked into.
The raids on Thursday led to the arrests of 200 people and the gathering of several hundred protesters, who fought with police. As part of a planned operation led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a raid on one farm went late into the night.
ICE agents searched Glass House Farms, which has two huge sites for growing cannabis. Rodney Scott, Commissioner of the Customs and Border Patrol, said that 10 children were arrested. Eight of them were in the country illegally after coming in as unaccompanied minors.
The United Farm Workers said in a statement that they were against the raids. It said that the raids seriously hurt farm workers and that some of them, including U.S. citizens, are still missing.
“Our staff is helping families right now.” Federal agents held a lot of workers, some of whom were US citizens, at the farm for 8 hours or more. The union said that US citizen workers said they were only let go after being told to delete photos and videos of the raid from their phones.
Undocumented teens were found during a raid on a weed farm.
The UFW also wants minor workers to have their own lawyers, and they pointed out that farm workers are not covered by basic rules against child labour.
“Unfortunately, it’s not unusual for teens to work in the fields.” “Let’s be clear: holding and deporting kids is not a way to stop them from working,” the group said.
As news of the operation spread, activists and protesters gathered in one place north of Los Angeles.
Glass House Farms says it is the world’s biggest weed business. On Thursday morning, groups of military and immigration police cars showed up at the farm and arrested dozens of workers. Before being taken away, a lot of them were lined up and watched from outside the building.
When protesters and government officials got into fights, police used tear gas, flash bang grenades and rounds that didn’t kill anyone. Dozens of protesters were caught and jailed.
A video on X showed what looked like a protester firing a gun at federal police. There is now a $50,000 reward from the FBI for his arrest and conviction.
To protect the border, Tom Homan said, “They can protest all they want, but if they cross the line, they’ll be arrested and charged.” “There is no tolerance.” They have the right to free speech under the First Amendment. I had 1,000 protesters at my house, so what? I’m not going to stop. This is what I’m going to do; I’m not going to shut up. You can’t cross that line, though.
At the same time, there was a second raid at a different Glass House site 35 miles away in Santa Barbara County. There is still no word on how many people were arrested, but it is said to be in the dozens.
Government sources say that planning for that operation took about a month, which is normal for an operation that size.
Officials won’t go in without some kind of direction or plan. Hundreds of police and military members met to be briefed on a mission from a few weeks ago to shut down three illegal marijuana grow operations on federal land.
It’s possible for ICE, Homeland Security, or the Drug Enforcement Agency to be in charge of operations. Each team is told what they need to do and where they need to work during meetings. They are also given backup plans in case things go wrong.
Operations that are supposed to shut down illegal weed businesses are now also expecting to meet people who are working illegally.
“We know that crime leads to more crime,” DEA Agent Anthony Chrysanthis said. “These criminal grows need to hire undocumented workers to get the work done.” These workers are often held slaves against their will when they come here to be trafficked. They have to work off the money that got them here, so they are locked up and we find them in places they can’t get away.
Police arrested about 70 unauthorised people who they say were working illegally in Riverside County during a previous raid.
The DEA and its government partners carried out search warrants in a total of 787 acres of land in different places. Two people were found in a caravan that was locked from the inside and the outside. Agents had to break through those, which showed that some of the people working there didn’t want to be there.
One of the people arrested was a U.S. citizen who was caught trying to stop or slow down activities.
