Federal agents clash with demonstrators in two immigration raids in Ventura County

On Thursday, July 10, an immigration enforcement operation at a cannabis farm in Ventura County resulted in a confrontation with demonstrators.

The operation occurred at Glass House Farms, the largest cannabis cultivation business in the area. Border Patrol said it served a warrant on the farm because it was accused of hiring undocumented workers, according to ABC News.

As videos of the large-scale immigration operation began circulating on social media, protesters started arriving at the scene, where they witnessed the ongoing raid in real time. The National Guard was also deployed to support the immigration raid agents, according to the United Farm Workers Foundation (UFWF).

Many protestors documented the events from outside the farm, but tensions quickly escalated when immigration officials began to fire rubber bullets, stun grenades and  smoke canisters, sending the crowd to run in the opposite direction throughout the farm fields. “This administration is targeting workers who help feed our country, not criminals. They're determined to spread fear and terror,” said UFWF.

The Ventura County Fire Department (VCFD) was dispatched at approximately 12:15 pm to provide medical help as a result of federal enforcement activity along Laguna Road. “VCFD was requested through our county's 911 system solely to provide medical aid and has no connection with any federal immigration enforcement actions,” the agency said in a statement.

Governor Gavin Newsom's Office immediately issued a statement regarding the immigration enforcement operations that took place in Centura County.

“There's a real cost to these inhumane immigration actions on hardworking families and communities, including farmworker communities, across America. Instead of supporting the businesses and workers that drive our economy and way of life, Stephen Miller's tactics evoke chaos, fear and terror within our communities at every turn. At Miller's direction, Trump's agents continue to detain U.S. citizens and racially profile Americans, ripping families apart and disappearing parents and workers into cruel federal detention centers to meet their self-imposed arrest quotas."

The protest at Glass House Farms became an all day protest after the immigration operation occurred.

Earlier that day another immigration operation took place in a farm in Carpinteria. Salud Carbajal, a Democratic representative, was denied entry to the raid by federal agents; a social video by the Santa Barbara Independent captures the moment.

“ICE was conducting a raid using disproportionate displays of force against local farm workers and our agricultural community,” Carbajal said in a statement after the incident. “As a member of Congress and representative of the Central Coast, I have the right to conduct oversight and see first-hand what ICE was doing here. As soon as I walked up, I was denied entry and was not allowed to pass. This was completely unacceptable.”

“And let me be clear,” Carbajal added, “these militarized ICE raids are not how you keep our communities safe. This kind of chaos only traumatizes families and tears communities apart. They are also a gross misuse of limited resources and a betrayal of the values that define us as Americans.”

If your loved one was arrested during this raid, please call the 805 Immigrant Rapid Response Hotline at (805) 870-8855.