California professor accused of assault after he was ‘kidnapped' during ICE protests at cannabis farm raid
Jonathan Anthony Caravello, a math and philosophy lecturer at California State University Channel Islands, was arrested July 10 as heavily armed federal agents fired tear gas into crowds demonstrating against the raids.
Bill Essayli, U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, accused Caravello of 'throwing a tear gas canister at law enforcement' and said his office is preparing to charge him with assaulting, resisting or impeding officers. Carvello's first court appearance is Monday.
According to witnesses, a tear gas canister had rolled under the wheelchair of a legal observer who struggled to breathe or move. Caravello had reportedly rushed over to help when he was tackled by agents.
Following his arrest, more than 24 hours passed before Caravello's whereabouts were discovered. His educators' union, California Faculty Association, posted a statement saying that he had been 'kidnapped' by four masked agents who did not identify themselves or state where they were taking him as they placed him in an unmarked car.
The university said in a statement that it believed Caravello 'was peacefully participating in a protest — an act protected under the First Amendment and a right guaranteed to all Americans.'
'If confirmed, we stand with elected officials and community leaders calling for his immediate release,' the university said.
Members of the California Faculty Association held a vigil Sunday in front of a detention center demanding his release.
The raids and intense standoff between protesters and federal agents have emerged as the latest flashpoint in Donald Trump's aggressive anti-immigration agenda, which has deployed masked federal law enforcement agents into communities to make mass arrests and swiftly remove thousands of people from the country.
Last week, officers arrested more than 300 people during a pair of raids inside cannabis farms in Camarillo, California, roughly 50 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Agents allegedly discovered 10 undocumented immigrant children working there.
The United Farm Workers union said several workers were critically injured during the raids, while other targeted workers, including a U.S. citizen, 'remain totally unaccounted for.'
Agents are accused of chasing one worker who fell 30 feet from the top of a building. Jaime Alanis Garcia was hospitalized and placed on life support with a broken neck, broken skull and a severed artery.
Garcia was later removed from life support and died from his injuries.
'His wife and parents decided today to let him rest. He has passed away,' his family said in a statement.
The raids sparked an intense standoff between protesters and federal officers who arrived on the scene in military-style vehicles.
'We are outraged by these military-style tactics that target immigrants and terrorize communities,' California Faculty Association said in a statement.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security agents are 'tearing families apart and undermining the constitutional rights of everyone — including U.S. citizens — who stand with marginalized communities,' the group said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
6 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Trump destroys Biden's desperate autopen defense with three-word putdown
President Donald Trump slammed Joe Biden 's defense when it comes to using the autopen, saying of the former president: 'he knew nothing.' 'The autopen I think is maybe one of the biggest scandals that we've had in 50-100 years. This is a tremendous scandal,' Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. 'I guarantee you he knew nothing about what he was signing. I guarantee it.' Trump was asked about Biden's interview with the New York Times, where the former president said Trump and other Republicans were 'liars' for claiming his aides had used an autopen to do so without his authorization. But the president also admitted his own administration also uses the autopen, although Trump clarified it was not used to sign legislation but to add his autograph to letters to Americans. 'You know what the auto pen is supposed to do? Sign thousands of letters from young people that write. I get, we get thousands of letters a week,' Trump said. 'There's a room where we have many, many people working, responding and sending letters back. That's what an auto pen's supposed to be.' He added: 'It's not supposed to be for signing major legislation and all of the things.' Trump and many Republicans argue the use of the autopen proves Biden was mentally incapacitated while in office. But many presidents use the electronic signature, including Barack Obama. The president expounded on the idea at a later event, calling it a 'scandal' the country was 'run by an autopen' when Biden was president. 'We were run by an autopen, and nobody knows who used it. I think it's one of the biggest scandals the history of our country,' he said. Trump also claimed that Biden's aides signed legislation without Biden's knowledge, which the former president has denied. 'Nobody has any idea who used it, including Biden,' Trump said. 'It's very terrible ... an evil group of people, and they're very smart, very smart. He's not, but they are. They took over the Oval Office. They actually took over the Oval Office. We can never let anything like that happen again.' Biden told the New York Times that he 'made every decision' and his staff only used the autopen at his order. 'I made every decision,' Biden, adding that he had his staff use the electronic signature because 'we're talking about a whole lot of people. His decision to speak out on the issue comes after Republicans have spent months demonizing the autopen's usage and questioning whether Biden was ever even aware of the decisions being made. 'This is nothing more than a distraction by Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans,' Biden said of the attacks. The autopen is an electronic pen that replicates a person's signature. The courts have ruled it's legal for a public official to use one in their government duties. But Trump has argued the use of the autopen invalidates Biden's orders. And he's claimed that Biden aides wielded the pen without the then-president's knowledge. Republicans in Congress have hauled Biden's aides before the Oversight Committee, to discuss Biden's mental capacities and actions they took in office, including using the autopen. Additionally, the Justice Department - under an executive order from Trump - has launched a probe into the Biden administration's use of the pen. Under Trump's order, all of the pardons, clemency grants, executive orders, presidential memoranda, and other presidential policy decisions issued by Biden will be investigated. During his time in office, Biden was pictured signing some orders while in office, including ones on the use of AI and on gun safety issues. But it's unclear if there were documents from the Biden administration that were signed by the then-president or may have been signed by an electronic pen. Actions under review would include Biden's pardons for son Hunter and other family members and orders related to a variety of areas including education, immigration, health care, climate change and more. As part of the DoJ investigation, tens of thousands of emails from the Biden administration between November 2024 and January 2025 have been turned over by the National Archives, a source told The New York Times. These emails contain keywords like 'clemency', 'pardon' or 'commutation', and could be the key to determining how each pardon came about and Biden's involvement. They appear to show that White House staffers ran details of each clemency grant by Biden for a final check before they were made public. On some occasions, draft announcements had to be tweaked after Biden read them because of his last-minute feedback. These could not be released until an aide confirmed Biden had approved the final wording. At the end of his term, Biden reduced the sentences of nearly 4,000 federal convicts. Biden said he made 'every decision', but revealed when it came to large groups of people, he did not individually approve the names of every single person he pardoned during his final months in the White House. Instead, he signed off on the criteria and standards he wanted to be used to determine which criminals received reduced sentences. This placed offenders into categories, some of which were issued sweeping pardons. He also pre-emptively pardoned politically prominent people he considered potential targets of Trump for criminal investigations, including members of Congress, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and members of his own family. Biden told the New York Times that he consciously made the decisions to pardon those figures because he didn't want them to have rack up legal fees should Trump send his Justice Department after them. 'Everybody knows how vindictive he is, so we knew that they'd do what they're doing now,' Biden said, adding: 'I consciously made all those decisions.' But the only pardon he signed with his own hand was the one for his son, Hunter Biden.
Daily Mail
7 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Browns rookie Quinshon Judkins accused of punching girlfriend in the mouth with closed fist, police reveal
Cleveland Browns rookie Quinshon Judkins is accused of punching his girlfriend in the mouth as well as striking her on the thigh and arm, according to a Florida police report obtained by Daily Mail. Judkins was arrested Saturday in Florida on a misdemeanor domestic violence charge. Now a newly released police report has detailed the allegations against the former Ohio State running back, who is just weeks away from his first NFL training camp. As described to Fort Lauderdale police by his alleged victim, the two flew into the local airport on the evening of July 7, when she claims Judkins became irate with her after receiving text messages from his family. 'Oh wow, I can't believe you,' Judkins allegedly told the woman. 'I'm so done with you.' The contents of the messages are not explained in the police report, which was filed five days after the alleged incident. However, she did tell officers the texts were misleading and taken out of context. The two continued arguing as they boarded their rented Lamborghini SUV, where she says Judkins punched her in the 'mouth/chin area with a closed fist,' according to the police report. Judkins later pulled over, allowing her to exit the vehicle. She ultimately returned to the vehicle but chose to sit in the back, where she says Judkins struck her arm and thigh, according to the police report. The unidentified woman had bruising on her chin, thigh and arm, according to officers. Asked why she didn't phone 911 when the incident took place, the woman told the officer she was concerned about Judkins' 'recent success and career.' The woman said she lived with Judkins between May and December of 2024 before the two rekindled their relationship in June, two months after he was picked 36th overall by the Browns in the NFL Draft. Daily Mail has reached out to Judkins' attorney for comment. A spokesperson for the Cleveland Browns told that the franchise is 'aware and gathering more information.' The former Buckeyes star was expected to compete for a starting job with Nick Chubb moving on to the Houston Texans. Although Judkins has yet to put pen to paper on his deal with Cleveland, he is still susceptible to the NFL's Personal Conduct Policy, which could see him face discipline from the league. He remains the only member of the Browns' draft class yet to sign a contract with the likes of Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel inking their own deals weeks ago.
Reuters
10 minutes ago
- Reuters
Girardi law firm CFO gets 65-month sentence in client funds case
July 14 (Reuters) - A federal judge in Chicago on Monday sentenced the former chief financial officer of California lawyer Tom Girardi's law firm Girardi Keese to 65 months in prison for his role in the misappropriation of millions of dollars in client funds, which were owed to families of the victims of a 2018 plane crash in Indonesia, prosecutors said. Christopher Kamon, 51, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud before U.S. District Judge Mary Rowland in Chicago. Kamon is already serving a 121-month sentence after pleading guilty in a California federal court to two counts of wire fraud on similar charges of bilking clients. A spokesperson for the Chicago U.S. Attorney's office said Kamon's Illinois and California sentences will run concurrently. A lawyer for Kamon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Kamon has been incarcerated in federal jail since his arrest in November 2022. Federal prosecutors in Chicago charged Girardi, Kamon and David Lira, Girardi's son-in-law and a former lawyer at the firm, with misappropriating more than $3 million in client funds owed to families of the victims of the 2018 Boeing 737 MAX Lion Air Flight 610 crash in Indonesia. The crash killed all 189 onboard. A federal judge last month sentenced Girardi to more than seven years in prison in the related California prosecution, capping the once-prominent lawyer's rapid fall for enriching himself with settlement funds meant for his clients. Kamon had initially pleaded not guilty to charges of wire fraud and criminal contempt in the Chicago case. He changed his plea on Wednesday. Lira pleaded guilty to one charge of criminal contempt last month. His sentencing is scheduled for October. Rowland in May dismissed the Chicago charges against Girardi after prosecutors sought their dismissal in light of his California sentencing.
