Federal Agents Detain Farmworkers in Large-Scale Raids at Two Southern California Farms

In Carpinteria, farm staff told a local news station that 10 workers had been detained. There, federal agents threw flash-bang grenades and smoke bombs at a group of protestors, including  U.S. Representative Salud Carbajal (D-California) and a local councilwoman.

In Camarillo, Ventura officials estimated 12 to 15 workers were detained. There, live helicopter footage from ABC News showed about a dozen military vehicles, fire trucks, and ambulances near the farms. At the site, individuals could be seen lined up against two walls outside. Federal agents blocked a road, where protesters gathered with signs and bullhorns and filmed with their cellphone cameras. At around both 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m., agents fired non-lethal rounds and tear gas at the crowd before advancing forward, pointing weapons at the protestors. At one point, some protestors tried to block military vehicles from advancing; several protestors threw water bottles at the phalanx of federal agents.

Civil Eats was on the ground in Camarillo, where protestors said they had been assembled since around 10 a.m. They said the agents had advanced at least four times and also shot rubber bullets at them. The protestors said they could see agents lining people up outside the farm facility and loading them into vans. One woman said her cousin, who was in the process of applying for legal status, was hiding inside.

“We feed the country, we feed the people. Out here, this is all farmland. This a farm community,” said Javier Martinez, a Ventura County employee who took part in the protests. “There are a lot of farmworkers, field workers; they’re here to work.”

Although the administration has wavered several times as to whether farmworkers would be included in mass deportation plans, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said this week that there would be “no amnesty.” Civil Eats has been tracking raids on farms and other food establishments and has recorded at least 23 to date. (Link to this post.)