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Federal agents gathered Thursday at a farm field in rural Ventura County as immigration enforcement operations continue in Southern California. A crowd also assembled in protest at the scene near Camarillo, where witnesses said several people were detained. Some of the individuals in custody were placed on a U.S. Marshals bus that left in a convoy of vehicles. The Ventura County Fire Department said three people were transported, but details about their injuries and conditions were not immediately available.An apparent immigration enforcement operation was underway in a farming community of Ventura County Thursday morning as a group of federal agents appeared to detain people in the area.
The scene unfolded at Glass House Camarillo Cultivation in an unincorporated area of Southern California’s Ventura County. Records show the nursery was approved for cannabis licenses.
NewsChopper4 was overhead when about 20 agents appeared to have set up a staging area as they stood behind a skirmish line, keeping onlookers from crossing over to their side. Agents were seen using flash bangs, smoke and chemical irritants when people became too close. Some people also told NBC Los Angeles that they were shot with rubber or foam rounds.
While dozens of people were detained by the agents and bused away, several others were injured.
It was not immediately clear how many people were detained, but Michelle Gonzalez told NBC Los Angeles that her mother, who works at a workshop, called her to say she was detained. Gonzalez said she and her siblings are in the process of looking for legal representation for her mother.
Video showed several white vans, similar to those seen at other immigration enforcement operations in Southern California, and at least one U.S. Marshals Service bus at the scene. Details about where the detained individuals were taken were not immediately available.
Among seven people injured during the clash with the federal agents, four of them were taken to a hospital while three others were treated and released at the scene, the Ventura County Fire Department confirmed Thursday.
The fire department also explained they received the first call for a medical aid in response to the operation at around 12:15 p.m. although it was not able to confirm who made the 911 call or where the call was originated.
Video from the scene showed people standing in front of a law enforcement SUV at a nearby intersection. The SUV struck a street sign as it attempted to maneuver around a flatbed truck carrying a forklift.
“It’s a horrible sight. It’s heart-wrenching,” said Raquel Sanchez, a volunteer with Rapid Response Network. “The whole perimeter is blocked off.”
Sanchez expressed a concern for immigrations who may be hiding from federal agents in confined spaces amid soaring temperatures.
“(The federal agents) are targeting the most hardworking people,” Sanchez said, adding immigration raids have been going for weeks. “(Farmworkers) don’t have the luxury to miss work. They are just gambling being deported on a daily basis.”
NBC Los Angeles reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for confirmation.
A convoy of at least seven military vehicles, including an armored Humvee, were at the location, but it was not immediately clear whether they were part of the operation. Marines and National Guard members were activated by the Trump administration in June to protect federal property and personnel, such as immigration enforcement agents, in Southern California.
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In response, Governor Gavin Newsom’s office issued a statement, warning there is a “real cost” to immigration operations targeted at farming communities across the U.S. while singling out President Trump’s top advisor Stephen Miller, a Santa Monica native, for being the mastermind behind the “inhumane” actions.
“Instead of supporting the businesses and workers that drive our economy and way of life, Stephen Miller’s tactics evoke chaos, fear and terror within our communities at every turn,” Newsom’s office said. “At Miller’s direction, Trump’s agents continue to detain U.S. citizens and racially profile Americans, ripping families apart and disappearing parents and workers into cruel federal detention centers to meet their self-imposed arrest quotas.”
Although President Donald Trump has expressed concern for American farmers who rely heavily on migrant labor, acknowledging that aggressive immigration enforcement could hurt the agricultural industry, the recent immigration enforcement operations in Los Angeles and other parts of Southern California are part of Trump’s campaign promise to carry out a mass deportation plan.
More than 55,000 migrants nationwide have been taken into ICE custody over the past six months, according to data compiled by NBC News. About 28 percent have criminal convictions with about 25 percent having pending criminal charges. About 47 percent were listed as “other immigration violater.”
California is home to 10.6 million immigrants, more than any other state, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. The Pew Research Center estimates that 1.8 million immigrants in California were undocumented in 2022, a figure that dropped from 2.8 million in 2007.
At least half of the estimated 255,700 farmworkers in California are undocumented, according to UC Merced Research.
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