Federal officials announce 200 workers arrested in Carpinteria, Camarillo farm raids
'On July 10, 2025, federal law enforcement officers executed criminal warrant operations at marijuana grow sites in Carpinteria and Camarillo,' reads a statement issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. 'During the operation, at least 10 migrant children were rescued from potential exploitation, forced labor, and human trafficking. Federal officers also arrested approximately 200 illegal aliens from both sites in Carpinteria and Camarillo.'
DHS says that during the operation, over 500 demonstrators congregated at the two Glass House Farms sites in protest of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers taking workers and family members from the farms.
The protests at the Ventura County farm escalated when, at around 12:35 p.m., officers deployed tear gas and less-than-lethal rounds into crowds of protestors who had blocked roadways on both north and southbound Laguna Road. Paramedics responded to the scene and set up a triage system for people injured by tear gas at a safe distance from the ongoing operation.
United Farm Workers also issued a statement on Friday, confirming that workers were critically injured during what they described as 'chaotic raids,' and noted that 'other workers, including U.S. citizens, remain totally unaccounted for.'
'Our staff is on the ground supporting families,' stated the union officials. 'Many workers – including US citizens, were held by federal authorities at the farm for 8 hours or more. US citizen workers report only being released after they were forced to delete photos and videos of the raid from their phones.'
The organization also described the raids as 'violent and cruel,' saying they 'terrorize American communities, disrupt the American food supply chain, threaten lives and separate families,' and called for an end to the immigration sweeps.
As for the violence that ensued between agents and protesters, the DHS said that four U.S. citizens are being criminally processed for assaulting or resisting officers, and that one demonstrator allegedly fired a gun at ICE and CBP agents. The FBI is offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the shooting suspect.
'During the operation, a violent agitator fired a gun at our brave officers,' says Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. 'While ICE and CBP officers are being assaulted by rioters and dodging bullets to save children, Sanctuary politicians are demonizing ICE and CBP. We will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law anyone who assaults or doxes federal law enforcement.'
Glass House Farms is now under investigation for alleged child labor violations, according to the DHS. The company issued a statement Friday morning, saying in part, 'Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors.' Glass House also noted that it is fully cooperating with ICE as per the law and that it is working to help provide the workers with legal representation. 'We do not expect this to affect operations moving forward.'
United Farm Workers also mentioned that it is aware of reports of child labor on the site and said it demands legal representation for any minor workers, adding, 'To be clear: detaining and deporting children is not a solution for child labor.'
McLaughlin's comments about 'Sanctuary politicians' come after a morning of statements and press conferences with local and state leaders speaking out against the large-scale operation, including comments from Gov. Gavin Newsom and action by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.
'Trump calls me 'Newscum' — but he's the real scum,' Newsom wrote on X, including a video from KTLA of protesters of the raid running from tear gas sprayed by officers in Camarillo.
In a post on X, the Department of Homeland Security responded to Newsom, asking, 'Why are there children working at a marijuana facility, Gavin?' The governor later replied with another X post, saying, 'We prosecute criminals that break child labor laws. You make the kids pose for photos, tear gas them, and promote laws like this,' and attached screenshots of headlines on articles about child labor violations.
Around the same time as the back-and-forth on social media, Bass held a press conference where she announced and signed a new executive directive aimed at strengthening city protections for immigrant communities in the wake of what she described as 'unlawful and chaotic' federal immigration raids across the region.
Meanwhile, at the Glass House Farms in Ventura County, families and dozens of people were seen still standing outside the facility on Friday morning, hoping to reunite with loved ones who were detained or possibly still hiding.
Ventura County farm raid leaves families waiting, workers still in hiding
The Camarillo raid coincided with a second federal operation at another Glass House location in Carpinteria, about 50 miles northwest. U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara), whose district includes Carpinteria, attempted to access that site but was turned away by agents. He later criticized what he described as a 'troubling lack of transparency' from federal authorities.
'These militarized ICE raids are not how you keep our communities safe,' Carbajal said. 'This kind of chaos only traumatizes families and tears communities apart.'
As for the DHS's response to the large-scale federal immigration raid, it concluded its statement by saying, 'The investigation into immigration and potential child labor violations is ongoing. Information will be released as it becomes available.'
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox News
32 minutes ago
- Fox News
How Florida became America's leading religious-freedom defender under DeSantis: report
The Sunshine State ranks as the nation's number one defender of religious liberty out of all 50 states, according to the First Liberty Institute's fourth annual Religious Liberty in the States (RLS) index. For the first time, Florida tops the national rankings, followed by Montana, Illinois, Ohio and Mississippi. Illinois and Mississippi have garnered a spot in the top five every year since the index was first released by the First Liberty Institute's Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy (CRCD) in 2022. The index uses a detailed scoring system measuring legal protections and ranking states based on the percentage of possible safeguards they have adopted. This year, with 2025's rankings, nearly 55 percentage points separates Florida from the last-place state, West Virginia, which has been last on the index for three years in a row. "We find that the states are laboratories of religious liberty where different protections for free exercise can be implemented and tested," CRCD Executive Director Jordan Ballor wrote in an introduction for the 2025 index. "One of the major goals of the RLS project is to raise awareness of what different states are doing. There are positive lessons to be learned from this experimentation, as states that have been at the vanguard of protecting religious liberty can serve as exemplars for states that have lagged behind." The index's accompanying report points out that Florida "is an exemplar" for how state lawmakers can improve their protections around religious freedom. According to the report, the Sunshine State has improved nearly 20 percentage points since the first RLS index was released in 2022. Much of this improvement came from legislation passed in 2023 strengthening religious protections that allow healthcare providers to refuse to participate in medical procedures or services, such as abortion or sterilization, based on their religious or moral beliefs. The report also pointed to Florida's passage of legislation in 2022 protecting houses of worship from discriminatory treatment during pandemics and other emergencies. "Florida holds several #1 rankings, leading the nation in education, economy, and tourism – and now, Florida is #1 in religious liberty," said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. "We're grateful for this recognition from the First Liberty Institute, which has just named Florida the number one state in the nation for protecting religious liberty." "This year's findings show clearly that states taking legislative action are pulling ahead," added Kelly Shackelford, president, CEO and chief counsel at First Liberty. "Under the leadership of Gov. DeSantis, Florida passed real laws that protect real people, and now the Sunshine State is the national leader in protecting religious liberty. It's time for more states to follow Gov. DeSantis's example and adopt strong religious liberty laws." While Florida was pointed to in the RLS index as an "exemplar," the report stated that religious freedom was becoming increasingly "tenuous" in the blue state of Illinois. The move downward for the Land of Lincoln was not because the state repealed protections, but mainly because it has not implemented new protections that other states, like Florida, have, the report noted. Per the 2025 RLS report, almost all of Illinois' protections came when the state was more conservative between 1934 and 1998. In an effort to demonstrate the dangers of "complacency," the report also pointed to Colorado when Republicans "routinely" had control of both houses of the state legislature. The environment was friendly toward religious liberty, but lawmakers did not pass much in the way of protections, according to the report. It said the state's complacency contributed to Colorado's "abysmal" 43rd-place finish in the 2024 RLS rankings and 34th finish in the 2025 rankings released Monday. The First Liberty Institute said the results of the 2024 election may give some people the idea that passing laws protecting religious liberty is not as important, but the conservative Christian legal group warned this is "emphatically not the case," noting that data shows passing such laws is just as critical amid a "favorable" political climate.
New York Post
33 minutes ago
- New York Post
LI fire chief allegedly storms pol's office, dares staff to ‘call ICE' after being accused of helping feds target migrants
The fire chief in Long Island's largest Latino community allegedly stormed into a local lawmaker's office and dared his staff to 'call ICE' — days after the pol accused him of aiding migrant crackdowns. Democratic state Assemblyman Phil Ramos apparently sparked the showdown when he accused Brentwood's fire officials last week of aiding the feds in their local immigration raids, with ICE spotted setting up a makeshift base in the parking lot of one of the department's fire stations. 5 Phil Ramos sparked the showdown when he accused Brentwood's fire officials last week of aiding the feds in their local immigration raids. Assemblyman Phil Ramos/Facebook Advertisement Ramos' public chastising then allegedly led Brentwood Fire Chief Bryant Figueroa to storm the politician's office Thursday night. The pol said Figueroa was 'trespassing' and trying to intimidate him by barging into his private office uninvited and daring staff to call law enforcement and the feds as they tried to stop him. 'Chief Bryant Figueroa stormed into my office unannounced, ignoring repeated instructions from my staff not to go beyond the public space — instead, he trespassed and entered my private office,' Ramos said in a statement. Advertisement 5 Ramos' public chastising then allegedly led Brentwood Fire Chief Bryant Figueroa to storm the politician's office Thursday night. Assemblyman Phil Ramos/Facebook 'When asked to leave and told again that he was not allowed in that part of the office, he responded defiantly with the words: 'Then call the police. Call ICE.' ' Ramos said Figueroa 'forcibly entered' his private office and slammed an envelope on his desk containing the department's revocation of the lawmaker's honorary 'chief' title along with notice that his name will be removed from the walls of the East Brentwood Fire House in Suffolk County. 5 The pol said Figueroa was 'trespassing' and trying to intimidate him by barging into his private office uninvited and daring staff to call law enforcement. East Brentwood Fire Department Advertisement 'Rather than standing with us during a difficult time, your words and actions have fueled public mistrust and endangered the safety and reputation of those who serve selflessly and without political motive,' said the fire chief's letter, which was obtained by The Post. 'We expect our community leaders, especially those we have honored with the title of Honorary Chief, to stand shoulder to shoulder with us in times of crisis and controversy–not to cast blame or sow division. Your recent conduct does not reflect the values we uphold or the brotherhood and sisterhood we share in the fire service.' 5 The press release from the East Brentwood Fire Department addressing accusations of helping federal agents target immigrants. East Brentwood Fire Department Brentwood Fire did not respond to a request for comment on the chief's alleged storming of Ramos' office. Advertisement The department previously denied any knowledge or allowance of ICE's operations to take place in its parking lot. A now-viral video shows masked agents and unmarked cars recently setting up shop at the fire house. Despite the department's and firefighters' denial, Ramos has remained unconvinced and insisted that leaders such as Figueroa gave ICE the green light to operate out of the parking lot. 5 Brentwood Fire did not respond to a request for comment on the chief's alleged storming of Ramos' office. Assemblyman Phil Ramos/Facebook Just days before the chief's alleged office storming, Ramos led a protest outside the fire house that ICE was spotted at. Ramos, a former police officer who once sued his own department for civil-rights violations, said the fire department's leadership is 'out of touch with the diverse community it serves' — and accused Figueroa of crossing the line from professional disagreement into personal retaliation. He's now calling for accountability and warning that the fight is far from over. 'I will not be intimidated, I will not be silenced, nor will our community stand for gestapo-like tactics from a fire department that is in urgent need of volunteers,' Ramos said. 'I'll continue to stand up for my community and shine the light of justice wherever it may lead.'
Miami Herald
33 minutes ago
- Miami Herald
No time, no lawyer, no rights: ICE memo sparks panic over third-country deportations
Immigrant communities across South Florida are on edge after a newly revealed immigration memo from the Trump administration confirmed that migrants could now be deported to countries other than their own with as little as six hours' notice — even in cases where those countries offer no guarantees of safety. The policy, laid out in a July 9 memo by Todd Lyons, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, expands the controversial use of 'third-country deportations.' Immigration lawyers, human rights advocates and families say the rule marks one of the most extreme deportation tactics yet under President Donald Trump's hardline immigration approach. 'It is really chaos, what they are creating,' said Elizabeth Amaran, a Miami-based immigration attorney. 'In practice, it's almost impossible to notify someone in time. Six hours is not enough to prepare any legal defense — it effectively denies people due process.' The Miami area, home to large diasporas from Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Haiti, has emerged as one of the regions most likely to be affected by the policy — and also one of the most politically sensitive. Many immigrants in South Florida are in legal limbo, with pending asylum cases or final orders of removal that haven't been enforced. Under the memo, first reported by the Washington Post, ICE is now authorized to deport non-citizens — including long-term U.S. residents — to third countries with only 24 hours' notice. In 'exigent circumstances,' that window can shrink to six hours, so long as the detainee is given an opportunity to speak with an attorney. In cases where a receiving country has given 'credible diplomatic assurances' that the deportee won't face torture or persecution, ICE can carry out removals without any prior notice to the individual. Legal experts say this amounts to a sweeping removal power with few safeguards and little transparency. 'This falls far short of providing the statutory and due process protections that the law requires,' Trina Realmuto, executive director of the National Immigration Litigation Alliance, told Reuters. Her organization is leading a class action lawsuit against ICE in federal court over what it calls unconstitutional deportations. The Trump administration has defended the policy as a necessary tool to accelerate the removal of unauthorized immigrants — including some with criminal records — particularly when their home countries are unwilling to accept them. 'We need to get the worst of the worst out of our country,' Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Sunday on Fox News. But data and accounts from immigration attorneys paint a different picture. Amaran says the majority of detainees she knows of who are at risk under the policy do not have criminal records. 'Out of 14 people I know of who were detained recently, only three had any record at all,' she said. 'Many have pending asylum claims or other forms of relief. They're being deported before their cases can be heard.' She added that many deportees are being sent to remote areas of Mexico despite not being Mexican nationals — and with no resources to survive. 'According to families I've spoken with, they're bused to remote border areas, given a 15-day temporary permit, and then just left there. No money, no shelter, no plan,' Amaran said. ICE's new memo follows a Supreme Court decision in June that lifted an injunction on third-country deportations. In a dissenting opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor warned the policy would place 'thousands of lives at risk of persecution and torture,' accusing the government of abandoning caution in life-and-death matters.' Since the ruling, the Trump administration has resumed controversial removals. Just last week, eight migrants from countries including Cuba, Sudan and Vietnam were deported to war-torn South Sudan — a nation engulfed in civil conflict. U.S. officials reportedly leaned on five African nations — Liberia, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania and Gabon — to accept deportees from other regions, such as Latin America and Southeast Asia. One of the most high-profile cases involves Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident wrongfully deported to El Salvador, despite a court order blocking his removal. After weeks of legal pressure, the Supreme Court returned him to the U.S., only for the Trump administration to threaten a new deportation — this time to an undisclosed third country. While third-country deportations are not new, they were historically rare and limited. Under Trump's first term, the U.S. deported a small number of Salvadorans and Hondurans to Guatemala. The Biden administration, while criticized for its own handling of immigration, struck regional agreements to manage migrant flows — including allowing Mexico to accept thousands of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans under specific terms. What's changed now, advocates say, is both the scale and the speed. The memo requires ICE officers to provide 'reasonable means and opportunity' for a detainee to speak with a lawyer, but Amaran says that's far from reality. 'They say the person can talk to an attorney — but the system to actually make that happen doesn't work. ICE routinely ignores scheduled calls. You can't get a judge to rule on anything in six hours,' she said. 'The deck is completely stacked.'
