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CTV News
2 days ago
- Politics
- CTV News
Army veteran and U.S. citizen arrested in California immigration raid warns it could happen to anyone
U.S. immigration agents talk to Rebecca Torres, second left, after she tried to block a military vehicle during a raid in the agriculture area of Camarillo, Calif., Thursday, July 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Owen Baker) A U.S. Army veteran who was arrested during an immigration raid at a Southern California marijuana farm last week said Wednesday he was sprayed with tear gas and pepper spray before being dragged from his vehicle and pinned down by federal agents who arrested him. George Retes, 25, who works as a security guard at Glass House Farms in Camarillo, said he was arriving at work on July 10 when several federal agents surrounded his car and — despite him identifying himself as a U.S. citizen — broke his window, peppered sprayed him and dragged him out. 'It took two officers to nail my back and then one on my neck to arrest me even though my hands were already behind my back,' Retes said. Massive farm raids led to hundreds being detained The Ventura City native was detained during chaotic raids at two Southern California farms where federal authorities arrested more than 360 people, one of the largest operations since President Donald Trump took office in January. Protesters faced off against federal agents in military-style gear, and one farmworker died after falling from a greenhouse roof. The raids came more than a month into an extended immigration crackdown by the Trump administration across Southern California that was originally centered in Los Angeles, where local officials say the federal actions are spreading fear in immigrant communities. California Gov. Gavin Newsom spoke on the raids at a news conference Wednesday, calling Trump a 'chaos agent' who has incited violence and spread fear in communities. 'You got someone who dropped 30 feet because they were scared to death and lost their life,' he said, referring to the farmworker who died in the raids. 'People are quite literally disappearing with no due process, no rights.' Retes was taken to the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, where he said he was put in a special cell on suicide watch and checked on each day after he became emotionally distraught over his ordeal and missing his 3-year-old daughter's birthday party Saturday. He said federal agents never told him why he was arrested or allowed him to contact a lawyer or his family during his three-day detention. Authorities never let him shower or change clothes despite being covered in tear gas and pepper spray, Retes said, adding that his hands burned throughout the first night he spent in custody. On Sunday, an officer had him sign a paper and walked him out of the detention center. He said he was told he faced no charges. Retes met with silence when seeking explanation 'They gave me nothing I could wrap my head around,' Retes said, explaining that he was met with silence on his way out when he asked about being 'locked up for three days with no reason and no charges.' Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, confirmed Retes' arrest but didn't say on what charges. 'George Retes was arrested and has been released,' she said. 'He has not been charged. The U.S. Attorney's Office is reviewing his case, along with dozens of others, for potential federal charges related to the execution of the federal search warrant in Camarillo.' A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to halt indiscriminate immigration stops and arrests without warrants in seven California counties, including Los Angeles. Immigrant advocates accused federal agents of detaining people because they looked Latino. The Justice Department appealed on Monday and asked for the order to be stayed. The Pentagon also said Tuesday it was ending the deployment of 2,000 National Guard troops in Los Angeles. That's roughly half the number the administration sent to the city following protests over the immigration actions. Some of those troops have been accompanying federal agents during their immigration enforcement operations. Retes said he joined the Army at 18 and served four years, including deploying to Iraq in 2019. 'I joined the service to help better myself,' he said. 'I did it because I love this (expletive) country. We are one nation and no matter what, we should be together. All this separation and stuff between everyone is just the way it shouldn't be.' Veteran pledges to sue federal authorities for his ordeal Retes said he plans to sue for wrongful detention. 'The way they're going about this entire deportation process is completely wrong, chasing people who are just working, especially trying to feed everyone here in the U.S.,' he said. 'No one deserves to be treated the way they treat people.' Retes was detained along with California State University Channel Islands professor Jonathan Caravello, also a U.S. citizen, who was arrested for throwing a tear gas canister at law enforcement, U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli posted on X. The California Faculty Association said Caravello was taken away by agents who did not identify themselves nor inform him of why he was being taken into custody. Like Retes, the association said the professor was then held without being allowed to contact his family or an attorney. Caravello was attempting to dislodge a tear gas canister that was stuck underneath someone's wheelchair, witnesses told KABC-TV, the ABC affiliate in Los Angeles. A federal judge on Monday ordered Caravello to be released on US$15,000 bond. He's scheduled to be arraigned Aug. 1. 'I want everyone to know what happened. This doesn't just affect one person,' Retes said. 'It doesn't matter if your skin is brown. It doesn't matter if you're white. It doesn't matter if you're a veteran or you serve this country. They don't care. They're just there to fill a quota.' ___ Associated Press writer Jamie Ding contributed from Los Angeles. Olga R. Rodriguez, The Associated Press
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Army vet calls for investigation after being detained for three days in ICE raid
A U.S. Army veteran who was detained during the massive immigration raid in Ventura County last week said Wednesday that he wants 'a full investigation' into how he could have been held behind bars for three days despite being an American citizen. 'What happened to me wasn't just a mistake,' he said in a written statement. 'It was a violation of my civil rights. It was excessive force.' At a news conference Wednesday, George Retes, who is 25 and the father of two children, said he had been on his way to his job as a security guard at Glass House farms on July 10 when 'I got caught in the middle between protesters and [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] agents.' Retes had been focused on his 3-year-old daughter's upcoming birthday party and didn't realize that Glass House, one of the largest legal cannabis operations in California, was being raided by scores of heavily armed immigration agents. Read more: Immigration raid at cannabis farm in Ventura County sparks chaotic protest Officials with the Department of Homeland Security later said they detained more than 360 people in the raid, including numerous undocumented immigrants who had been charged with crimes. As agents moved through the company's greenhouses, many workers fled in a panic. One worker, Jaime Alanis Garcia, 56, died after he fell three stories while trying to evade capture. Protesters and family members of workers, meanwhile, massed at the Glass House gates on Laguna Road, squaring off against federal agents, who deployed chemical agents and less-lethal ammunition. Retes said he had worked at Glass House as a contractor for the security firm Securitas for seven months. He said he unwittingly headed straight into that melee as he drove down Laguna Road to report for his afternoon shift. 'I had no clue about it,' he said. 'When I pulled up, I saw all the cars, I saw all the traffic, and I was just trying to make my way through.' He did not get to work. Instead, he said, agents smashed his car window, pepper-sprayed him and dragged him out at gunpoint. 'I let ICE agents know that I'm a U.S. Citizen, that I'm American,' he said. 'They didn't care. They never told me my charges. They sent me away.' Read more: Details emerge about pot-farm immigration raid as worker dies Retes, who served in Iraq, said agents never told him why he was being detained at the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles. He was packed off, without a phone call, access to a lawyer, or even a way to clean the pepper-spray residue off his clothes and face, he said. While in custody, Retes said, he became so distressed that he was put on suicide watch, but he was still not allowed to contact an attorney. His sister and wife meanwhile gave tearful interviews to local television stations, pleading for information as to his whereabouts. "We don't know what to do," his sister Destinee Majana told KABC-TV Channel 7 last week. "We're just asking to let my brother go. He's a U.S. citizen. He didn't do anything wrong. He's a veteran, disabled citizen. It says it on his car." "I just don't know where he's at. I've been up since 6 a.m. trying to call the sheriff's, the police department, Oxnard, Camarillo, Ventura,' added his wife, Guadalupe Torres. 'They say they don't know.' Finally, on Sunday, Retes said, guards came to his cell and told him he was going to be released. 'An officer walked me downstairs,' he recalled. "I signed a paper to get my stuff back. That was it. They let me go.' In a statement, officials at the Department of Homeland Security said: 'George Retes was arrested and has been released. He has not been charged. The [U.S. attorney's office] is reviewing his case, along with dozens of others, for potential federal charges related to the execution of the federal search warrant in Camarillo.' Retes said he is home in Ventura now, spending time with his children and 'enjoying being free. I took that for granted.' He recovered his car, which he said still has a smashed window, numerous dents and a sharp tang of pepper spray. But he said he plans to file a lawsuit against the government over the way he was treated. 'What they did isn't right,' he said. 'I'm here speaking for everyone who doesn't have a chance to speak.' Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
CBS News
2 days ago
- Politics
- CBS News
Immigration agents release Army veteran detained during Camarillo farm raid
A U.S. Army veteran detained during the immigration raid at a Ventura County marijuana farm last week said he plans to file a lawsuit against the federal government after agents held him in custody for three days. George Retes, 25, served in the Army for four years and deployed to Iraq. He was driving to work his security guard shift at Glass House Farms in Camarillo on July 10 when he encountered federal agents conducting an immigration operation. He was next to the marijuana facility when protesters clashed with U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents. The Department of Homeland Security said the U.S. Customs and Border Protection was serving a search warrant at the farm. Retes tried to speak with the agents but said they ignored him. "They ignored me," Retes said. "They didn't care what I had to say. They automatically accused me of just, I guess, doing something wrong. They escalated it from there." Video from a CBS News Los Angeles photographer at the scene showed a line of agents telling the crowd to move back and disperse before they began deploying what appeared to be less-than-lethal rounds and tear gas canisters. Retes said agents shouted conflicting commands and smashed his window before he could understand what was happening. The veteran said they sprayed him with pepper spray and deployed gas before dragging him out of his car at gunpoint. "They took two officers to kneel on my back and then one on my neck to arrest me, even though my hands were already behind my back and I was covered in [pepper spray,]" Retes said. Retes said they held him in federal custody for three days without charges. At the facility, agents did not provide him with medical care, nor did they allow him to contact his family or an attorney, according to Retes. He said he missed his daughter's third birthday. "They didn't allow me to shower, didn't give me a phone call, didn't let me speak to an attorney," Retes said. "My hands burned the entire night. I wasn't able to sleep. Even after I got home and showered, I still had [pepper spray] residue." Retes said agents never explained why he was arrested and ignored him when he said he was a U.S. citizen heading to work. DHS officials said more than 300 immigrants were arrested during the raid on the Camarillo farm and another facility in Carpinteria. Agents said there were at least 10 undocumented children at the facilities. They launched an investigation into possible child labor, exploitation and human trafficking charges. "The way they're going about this entire deportation process is completely wrong," Retes said. "It doesn't matter if you're an immigrant. It doesn't matter the color of your skin. It doesn't matter if you voted left. It doesn't matter if you voted right. It doesn't matter if you're black, brown, yellow, green. No one deserves to be treated this way. That shouldn't have happened. And I hope this never happens to anyone ever again." RELATED: Federal judge orders ICE to halt immigration raids in Southern California
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Farm worker dies a day after chaotic immigration raid at California farm
A farm worker died on Friday from injuries that he sustained a day earlier in raids on two California cannabis farm sites as US immigration authorities confirmed they arrested 200 workers after a tense standoff with authorities. Jaime Alanis's death was confirmed in a social media post by the United Farm Workers advocacy group. 'We tragically can confirm that a farm worker has died of injuries they sustained as a result of yesterday's immigration enforcement action,' the post read. The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that authorities executed criminal search warrants in Carpinteria and Camarillo, California, on Thursday. They arrested immigrants suspected of being in the country illegally and there were also at least 10 immigrant children on site, the statement said. Related: 'Reality TV spectacle': outrage as federal agents raid LA neighborhood with horses and armored cars Four US citizens were arrested for 'assaulting or resisting officers', the department said. Authorities were offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of one person suspected of firing a gun at federal agents. At least one worker was hospitalized with grave injuries. During the raid, crowds of people gathered outside Glass House Farms at the Camarillo location to demand information about their relatives and protest against immigration enforcement. A chaotic scene developed outside the farm that grows tomatoes, cucumbers and cannabis as authorities clad in helmets and uniforms faced off with the demonstrators. Acrid green and white billowing smoke then forced community members to retreat. Glass House, a licensed California cannabis grower, said in a statement that immigration agents had valid warrants. The company said workers were detained and it was helping provide them with legal representation. 'Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors,' the statement said. It is legal to grow and sell cannabis in California with proper licensing. State records show the company has multiple active licenses to cultivate cannabis. On Friday, about two dozen people waited outside the Camarillo farm to retrieve the cars of loved ones and speak to managers about what happened. Relatives of Jaime Alanis, who has worked picking tomatoes at the farm for 10 years, said he called his wife in Mexico during the raid to tell her immigration agents had arrived and that he was hiding with others inside the farm. 'The next thing we heard was that he was in the hospital,' Juan Duran, Alanis's brother-in-law, said in Spanish, his voice breaking. Elizabeth Strater, national vice-president of the United Farm Workers, said Alanis was injured after a 30ft fall from a building during the raid. After immigration agents arrived at Glass House's farm in Camarillo on Thursday morning, workers called family members to let them know authorities were there. Relatives and advocates headed to the farm about 50 miles (80km) north-west of downtown Los Angeles to try to find out what was going on, and began protesting outside. Federal authorities formed a line blocking the road leading through farm fields to the company's greenhouses. Protesters were seen shouting at agents wearing camouflage gear, helmets and gas masks. The billowing smoke drove protesters to retreat. It was unclear why authorities threw the canisters or if they released chemicals such as teargas. Ventura county fire authorities responding to a 911 call of people having trouble breathing said three people were taken to nearby hospitals. At the farm, agents arrested workers and removed them by bus. Others, including US citizens, were detained at the site for hours while agents investigated. The incident came as federal immigration agents have ramped up arrests in southern California at car washes, farms and Home Depot parking lots, stoking widespread fear among immigrant communities. The mother of an American worker said her son was held at the worksite for 11 hours and told her agents took workers' cellphones to prevent them from calling family or filming and forced them to erase cellphone video of agents at the site. The woman said her son told her agents marked the men's hands with ink to distinguish their immigration status. She spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because she feared reprisals from the government. United Farm Workers said in statement that some US citizens were not yet accounted for. Maria Servin, 68, said her son had worked at the farm for 18 years and was helping to build a greenhouse. She said she spoke to her son, who is undocumented, after hearing of the raid and offered to pick him up. 'He said not to come because they were surrounded and there was even a helicopter. That was the last time I spoke to him,' Servin, a US citizen, said in Spanish. She said she went to the farm anyway but federal agents were shooting teargas and rubber bullets and she decided it was not safe to stay. She and her daughter returned to the farm on Friday and were told her son had been arrested on Thursday. They still don't know where he is being held. 'I regret 1,000 times that I didn't help him get his documents,' Servin said. The best public interest journalism relies on first-hand accounts from people in the know. If you have something to share on this subject you can contact us confidentially using the following methods. Secure Messaging in the Guardian app The Guardian app has a tool to send tips about stories. Messages are end to end encrypted and concealed within the routine activity that every Guardian mobile app performs. This prevents an observer from knowing that you are communicating with us at all, let alone what is being said. If you don't already have the Guardian app, download it (iOS/Android) and go to the menu. Select 'Secure Messaging'. SecureDrop, instant messengers, email, telephone and post See our guide at for alternative methods and the pros and cons of each.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Farm worker who died after California Ice raid was ‘hardworking and innocent', family says
The farm worker who died from injuries he sustained after falling from a greenhouse roof during an Ice raid of a California cannabis farm was a 'hard-working, innocent farmer' and the sole provider for his wife and daughter, his family says. Jaime Alanís died a day after a frenzied immigration raid of Glass House Farms in Ventura county where authorities arrested at least 200 workers. The 57-year-old, who was from the town of Huajúmbaro in Michoacán, Mexico, is the first known person to die during the Trump administration's enhanced immigration enforcement operations in southern California. The federal government's ramped up enforcement activities have brought chaos across southern California as Ice agents descend on parks, car washes and farms. The operations – and the mobilization of US military – have sparked widespread outrage and protests as authorities arrest a growing number of immigrants with no criminal history, despite the administration's claims that its primary concern was 'violent criminals'. US citizens have also been swept up in the raids. The Department of Homeland Security said it executed criminal search warrants on Thursday in Camarillo and Carpinteria, California, at facilities of Glass House Farms, which grows cannabis, tomatoes and cucumbers. Agents arrested hundreds of people suspected in being in the country without legal statuses and identified at least 10 immigrant children. Related: Troops, terror and tears in Los Angeles as Ice raids show no sign of slowing During the raid Alanís called his family to say he was hiding and possibly fleeing agents before he fell about 30ft (9 metres) from the roof, according to information from family, hospital and government sources. Family members said he suffered catastrophic injuries – including a broken neck, fractured skull and severed artery – during the 'reckless' raid. Alanís was never in Customs and Border Protection or Ice custody, Tricia McLaughlin, the DHS assistant secretary for public affairs, said in a statement. 'Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a greenhouse and fell 30 feet. CBP immediately called a medivac to the scene to get him care as quickly as possible.' Alanís had worked at Glass House for a decade and was 'his family's only provider', according to a GoFundMe fundraiser by his niece, Yesenia Duran. 'My uncle Jaime was just a hard-working, innocent farmer. He has his wife and daughter waiting for him,' Duran wrote. United Farm Workers pledged to assist the family. 'Our hearts are heavy for the grieving family of Jaime Alanís, who died from injuries sustained during a chaotic raid on Thursday,' the advocacy group said. 'We'll do everything we can to support them. We continue to work with hundreds of farm worker families navigating the aftermath of this violent raid.'
