Latest news with #cannabisfarm
The Guardian
a day ago
- The Guardian
Colleagues rally round California professor arrested during Ice raid on cannabis farm
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 farm workers, 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 farm worker 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 Protection' 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 Ice'. Demonstrators also attempted to use their bodies to block the passage of Ice vans trying to leave with farm worker detainees. Instead of employing non-violent methods, says Flores-Haro, Ice agents brought out military-style vehicles and launched teargas 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 were 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 a 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 farm workers 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.'
The Guardian
2 days ago
- The Guardian
Colleagues rally round California professor arrested during Ice raid on cannabis farm
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.'
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Daily Mail
California professor unmasked as protester who 'hurled tear gas at ICE agents' during pot farm raid
A California professor has been accused of hurling tear gas at ICE agents during a tumultuous raid on a cannabis farm last week. Jonathan Anthony Caravello was taken into custody on Thursday, with U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli claiming on social media that he threw a tear gas cannister at law enforcement officials who descended on Glass House Farms in Ventura County. Essayli went on to deny the California Faculty Association's earlier claims that Caravello - who teaches math and philosophy at California State University Channel Islands - was 'kidnapped' by federal agents. Instead, a criminal complaint obtained by the Ojai Valley News claims that after agent deployed cannisters of tear gas, Caravello was caught on body camera footage 'attempt[ing] to kick the canister' which proceeded to roll past him. 'Caravello turned around, ran towards the canister, picked it up and threw the canister overhand back at [Border Patrol] agents,' an affidavit says, adding that it 'came within approximately several feet above law enforcements' heads.' In the aftermath, Caravello allegedly left the scene - only to return a few hours later wearing different clothes, according to the affidavit. It also claims that Caravello was seen 'holding a microphone' at the cannabis farm when Border Patrol agents 'attempted to clear a safe pathway' between the protesters and government-owned vehicles attempting to leave. He was arrested just before 6pm, according to the criminal complaint, which states that agents placed the professor on his stomach on the ground and gave him 'verbal commands... but Caravello would not comply and attempted to grab a [Border Patrol] agent's leg. 'Caravello continuously kicked his legs and refused to give the BP agents his arms,' the complaint alleges. Witnesses at the scene, though, offered a different version of events. They claimed the professor was attempting to dislodge a tear gas cannister that became stuck underneath another protester's wheelchair when he was arrested, ABC 7 reports. Angelmarie Taylor, 24, also told the Los Angeles Times she saw agents fire tear gas after Caravello and others refused to move out of the way of agents' vehicles. At that point, four masked agents took Caravello from the protest site and placed him in an unmarked vehicle without identifying themselves, stating a reason for his arrest or disclosing where they were taking him, the California Faculty Association claimed. 'They didn't give us a dispersal order,' Taylor recounted. 'They didn't say anything.' In a statement, California State University Channel Islands said it is working to get '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,' the university said. 'If confirmed, we stand with elected officials and community leaders calling for his immediate release.' Members of the California Faculty Association and VC Defensa, an immigration rights group, then hosted a rally demanding the release of at least 12 Ventura County residents - including Caravello - on Sunday. 'As part of our union's antiracism and social justice agenda, we show up for our immigrant communities, including faculty and students engaged in efforts to stop and protect our communities from the invasion of ICE, [Department of Homeland Security], National Guard and local law enforcement,' the California Faculty Association said in a statement. A spokesperson for the group also spoke up about Caravello's detention in remarks to the Coyote Chronicle. 'This was not just an arrest - it was a disappearance,' the spokesperson said. 'Dr. Caravello is a US citizen, a public servant and an advocate for justice. His abduction is part of a deeply alarming trend of silencing dissent and criminalizing compassion.' VC Defensa also shared a message on Instagram asserting that Caravello was 'defending the immigrant community and supporting other people who come to show their support. 'Let's be critical before sharing news that he was "violent,"' the immigrant rights group urged. 'We have so many witnesses that know he was attacked by ICE and assaulted for no reason other than he was in the crowd that stood against ICE. 'This is an egregious lie by the ruling class (as always!!),' it claimed. Still, Caravello is now facing federal charges of 'assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers or employees,' which can carry up to 10 years in prison if the offense involves a weapon or causes injury. He was released on a $15,000 bail on Monday, with an arraignment set for August 1. Meanwhile, Democrats have spoken out against the ICE raid at the cannabis farm, as they insisted the migrants agents were after were just children picking strawberries. Ventura County Democratic Party Chair Steve Auclair called the raid 'a military attack on our community,' Auclair said. 'First they came for the farmworkers. Now they're coming for all of us,' he declared. California Gov. Gavin Newsom even declared that President Donald Trump is 'the real scum' for conducting the nationwide ICE raids.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Yahoo
Farmworker injured during Southern California immigration raid has died, family says
A farm worker who was hospitalized with a brain injury during an immigration raid at a Ventura County cannabis farm has died, his family confirmed Saturday. On July 10, Jaime Alanís was attempting to evade officers when he fell 30 feet from a building and was hospitalized with critical injuries. He remained on life support at the Ventura County Medical Center. His family said he would remain on life support until his wife arrived from Mexico to be by his side and say goodbye. On Saturday afternoon, family members confirmed that Alanís had died. 'With heavy hearts, my uncle has passed away,' his niece wrote on a GoFundMe page to help the man's family. His niece, who did not want to be identified, said Alanís had been texting the family until the time of the accident. 'He was hiding, and moments later, he doesn't respond, and we knew something happened,' she said. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Alanís was not in custody during the incident, nor was he being chased. 'Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a green house and fell 30 feet,' DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. 'CBP immediately called a medivac to the scene to get him care as quickly as possible.' Family members said Alanís has been working in the U.S. for 30 years to provide for his wife and daughter back in Mexico. United Farm Workers issued a statement on Friday that confirmed farmworkers were critically injured during the raids and that 'other workers, including U.S. citizens, remain unaccounted for.' The July 10 raids at the Glass House cannabis farm near Camarillo and another farm in Carpinteria are believed to be the largest single-day immigration enforcement operations in California history. In an X post on Saturday, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said officers arrested '319 illegal aliens' and 'rescued 14 children from potential forced labor, exploitation, and trafficking.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Arab News
6 days ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Farm worker dies after US immigration raid in California
CAMARILLO: A farm worker has died after being injured during a raid by US immigration agents on a legal cannabis farm in California, his family said on Saturday. Raids on agricultural sites Thursday resulted in the arrests of 200 undocumented migrants, as part of US President Donald Trump's wide-ranging anti-immigration crackdown, and clashes between law enforcement officials and protesters. The farm worker's family had started a page on the fundraising platform GoFundMe to help support his relatives in Mexico. On Saturday, the page posted an update to say he had 'passed away.' Trump campaigned for the presidency on a harsh anti-immigration platform, likening undocumented migrants to 'animals' and 'monsters,' and since taking office he has delivered on promises to conduct a massive deportation drive. On Friday, he called demonstrators involved in attacks on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents 'slimeballs' and said they should be arrested. The chaotic raid on the cannabis plantation in Ventura County, about 56 miles (90 kilometers) from Los Angeles, saw the worker who later died being chased by ICE agents, his family said. 'My uncle Jaime was just a hard-working, innocent farmer,' said a post on the GoFundMe page. 'He was chased by ICE agents, and we were told he fell 30ft (9 meters).' The page described his injuries as 'catastrophic.' Tricia McLaughlin, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokeswoman, said he was never in custody. 'Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a green house and fell 30 feet,' McLaughlin said. '(Customs and Border Patrol) immediately called a medevac to the scene to get him care as quickly as possible.' DHS said 200 undocumented migrants were arrested during raids on marijuana growing sites in Carpinteria and Camarillo on Thursday and 10 children were rescued 'from potential exploitation, forced labor, and human trafficking.' Glass House Brands, which owns the farms, said in a statement that it has 'never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors.' DHS said more than 500 'rioters' had attempted to disrupt the operation and four US citizens are facing charges for assaulting or resisting officers. Tear gas was used against the protesters, some of whom were seen in television footage throwing projectiles at law enforcement vehicles. The department said immigration agency vehicles were damaged and a $50,000 reward was being offered for the arrest of an individual who allegedly fired a gun at law enforcement officers. In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said he had watched footage of 'thugs' throwing rocks and bricks at ICE vehicles, causing 'tremendous damage.' Trump said he was authorizing law enforcement officers who are 'on the receiving end of thrown rocks, bricks, or any other form of assault, to stop their car, and arrest these SLIMEBALLS, using whatever means is necessary to do so.' 'I am giving Total Authorization for ICE to protect itself, just like they protect the Public,' he said. Trump has been involved in a showdown over immigration enforcement with Democratic-ruled California for weeks. The Republican president sent thousands of National Guard troops to Los Angeles last month to quell protests against round-ups of undocumented migrants by federal agents. California Governor Gavin Newsom has said the troops were not necessary to address the mostly peaceful protests, but his legal efforts to have them removed have failed so far. The cannabis farm in Camarillo was calm during a visit by an AFP reporter on Friday, as workers waited in line to collect their belongings and paychecks. 'We've been here since six this morning asking questions but they're not giving us any information,' said Saul Munoz, a 43-year-old Colombian whose son was detained on Thursday. 'I just want to know how he's doing,' Munoz said. 'Bring him back to me and if it's time for us to leave, we'll leave. 'The truth is the American dream is no longer really the American dream.'
