Federal immigration agents carried out immigration sweeps at two Southern California cannabis farms on Thursday, prompting a heated standoff between authorities and several hundred protesters at a Ventura County site that resulted in several arrests and injuries. Via The L.A. Times:
Videos shared on social media showed nearly a dozen agents using less-lethal ammunition on a crowd that had gathered near Glass House Farms, a large, licensed cannabis greenhouse in Camarillo. Meanwhile, 35 miles up the coast in Carpinteria, federal agents entered another Glass House Farms growing site, where a smaller crowd gathered around the perimeter.
U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli confirmed in a statement on X that federal agents had executed a search warrant at a marijuana farm. He said they arrested several individuals on suspicion of impeding the operation and warned that people who continued to interfere would be arrested and charged with a federal offense.
Cesar Ortiz, 24, told a Times photographer in Spanish that his brother works at the farm and was detained and being held in a hot container without air-conditioning.
“They are taking everyone and the truth is it’s not right because these people come to work, struggle every day, to earn for bread every day,” he said. “It feels like they are against us but there are no narcos here, no one is armed here and they come fully armed, full of military personnel.”
