Military Veteran Sues Feds, Claiming He Was Wrongly Detained After Immigration Raid At California Marijuana Farm

The veteran says he was confronted by federal officers who dragged him out of his car, sprayed him with tear gas and pepper spray and detained him.

By Jamie Parsons, The Center Square

A U.S. Army veteran filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration after federal agents reportedly detained him during an immigration raid at a marijuana farm north of Los Angeles on July 10.

George Retes, a four-year military veteran and now a security guard at Glass House Farms in Camarillo, was working a shift when agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) conducted a joint immigration raid at the Ventura County farm. Retes said agents detained him and held him in custody for three days without medical care, or permission to contact his family or an attorney, according to CBS News Los Angeles.

Retes recalled sitting in his car next to the marijuana facility when protesters began to clash with the Customs and Border Protection officers. Shortly afterward, Retes said he was confronted by federal officers who dragged him out of his car, sprayed him with tear gas and pepper spray and detained him. Retes also said the federal officers wouldn’t tell him why he was being arrested and ignored him when he said he was a U.S. citizen.

Retes was taken to the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles and placed into a suicide watch cell after becoming “emotionally distraught” from the situation, according to media reports.

Retes said he is suing the federal government so people become aware of what happened to him. Retes added what happened to him can happen to anyone. He  said he hopes his lawsuit will help prevent people from experiencing what he went through.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) addressed the raid in Camarillo in a press release on Monday, but did not mention the detainment of Retes.

The Center Square reached out Thursday to Homeland Security for comment but did not receive an immediate response.

The DHS said at least 361 illegal immigrants were arrested from Camarillo and another immigration raid that occurred on the same day farther north at the Glass House Farms site in Carpinteria. The DHS also said at least 14 unaccompanied children were found, including 10 who were at the Camarillo farm. Homeland Security said the children were sent to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The DHS has spoken about the children found at the Camarillo farm on X. The department said it’s focused on protecting children and plans on continuing its partnership with law enforcement to make sure children are safe.

Glass House Brands, Glass House Farms’ parent company, said the farm company “fully complied” with the search warrants given to them by federal agents in a post on X on July 10.

Glass House Brands also said the company has “never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors,” in a post on X on July 11.

This story was first published by The Center Square.

Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.