Colleagues rally round California professor arrested during Ice raid on cannabis farm

The Guardian

6 days ago

Academics and colleagues are rallying around a California university professor who was arrested and charged with assaulting a federal officer during a chaotic immigration raid at a cannabis farm that resulted in a worker's death.
John Caravello, a math and philosophy professor at California State University Channel Islands, joined a crowd of protesters who confronted immigration agents when they arrived at Glass House cannabis farm in Camarillo, a community about 50 miles north of Los Angeles.
He was among hundreds of people who were arrested at the Glass House facilities in Camarillo and nearby Carpinteria. Those swept up in the raids include protesters such as Caravello, approximately 360 farmworkers, and a US military veteran who worked as a security guard. The sweeping operation has since attracted widespread scrutiny, particularly after the death of a farmerworker who fell from a greenhouse roof while attempting to hide from agents. The action is thought to be the largest raid in terms of arrests and the first death linked to the Trump administration's immigration crackdown in California.
Caravello, who volunteered as an organizer and immigrant advocate alongside his teaching work, is accused of throwing a teargas canister at law enforcement agents and 'assaulting, resisting, or impeding' officers, according to an affidavit. But witnesses on the scene tell a different story.
Genevieve Flores-Haro, associate director of Oxnard-based Micop (Mixteco Indigena Community Organizing Project), knows Caravello and was among the demonstrators present when he was arrested. On Thursday morning, Flores-Haro said the phones of her team of immigrant rights activists began blowing up with reports from family and friends that agents with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) were at Glass House farms.
When they arrived on scene at the Camarillo farm just after 11am, Ice agents had already set up cones and yellow tape emblazoned with 'Customs and Border Patrol' to block off the street. According to Flores-Haro, a crowd of demonstrators that eventually grew to around 200 people began chanting 'Chinga La Migra', which loosely translates to 'Fuck US Immigration and Border Patrol'.
Demonstrators also attempted to use their bodies to block the passage of Ice vans trying to leave with farmworker detainees. Instead of employing nonviolent methods, says Flores-Haro, Ice agents brought out military-style vehicles and launched tear gas into the crowd. Later, agents used additional teargas and rubber bullets against the demonstrators.
'The only teargas canisters that I saw thrown were by Ice agents and the national guard,' said Flores-Haro, who watched Caravello's arrest. Flores-Haro said Caravello appeared to be helping a fellow demonstrator who uses a wheelchair. She said she did not see him touch a canister, but some reports say Caravello attempted to remove a canister stuck beneath the demonstrator's wheelchair.
Flores-Haro said the demonstration was largely peaceful and described use of teargas by officers as unnecessary. 'There may have been a few people acting out, but it did not merit this show of force. I'm an American citizen. I was born here. I'm a taxpayer, I'm a USC graduate. My taxpayer dollars were used by the federal government to shoot at me.' After being teargassed, Flores-Haro had difficulty breathing and is still experiencing a cough.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Ice did not respond to multiple Guardian requests for comment about Caravello's arrest and witness accounts of what happened at the farm. Bill Essayli, the recently appointed 39-year-old US attorney for California's central district, who is known as Donald Trump's enforcer in the immigration battle in Los Angeles, posted on X that Caravello was arrested for 'throwing a teargas canister at law enforcement'.
Flores-Haro said she and Caravello had spoken out at a Camarillo city council meeting the night before the raid took place. During public comments, Caravello identified himself as a CSUCI professor and a longtime organizer with Ventura County Tenants Union and, more recently, a volunteer with VC Defensa, a coalition of local organizations dedicated to protecting immigrant and refugee populations in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. He asked council members to stand up against Ice's presence in the community, noting that many of his students and their families are undocumented.
'It's my responsibility to protect them, and so I've been patrolling the city streets following armed, masked thugs trying to kidnap my neighbors,' Caravello told the council.
Caravello was released on a $15,000 bond on Monday but still faces criminal charges, and is scheduled to be arraigned on 1 August.
When he walked free from the Los Angeles Metropolitan detention center earlier this week, a small crowd of supporters cheered, 'John Caravello, you deserve a medal for standing up for the community' – a chant that brought tears to the professor's eyes.
In a statement, Cal State Channel Islands said: 'We are currently gathering additional information to fully understand the circumstances of the incident. At this time, it is our understanding that Professor Caravello was peacefully participating in a protest – an act protected under the first amendment and a right guaranteed to all Americans.'
Because his case is still pending, Caravello declined to comment, but fellow California Faculty Association colleague Theresa Montaño said her friend was relieved to be released, yet still worries for other detainees. Families are still searching for the whereabouts of some farmworkers and others have shown up in facilities as far away as El Paso, Texas.
'John is part of a labor union and activist organization,' said Montaño. 'Not everyone has those networks to fight for them.' Montaño also said she was confident Caravello, who she described as 'big-hearted', will ultimately be cleared.
'John is not guilty, and we have witnesses to attest to that,' says Montaño. 'He's a seasoned organizer. He would never throw anything at a federal agent.'