Federal agents faced fierce resistance Thursday during coordinated immigration and labor-enforcement raids at two Glass House Farms cannabis facilities north of Los Angeles. Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), supported by FBI tactical teams and low-flying helicopters, descended on the state-licensed operations—illegal under federal law—to serve warrants for allegedly undocumented workers and child-labor violations.

At the Camarillo farm, protesters converged on agents executing warrants, throwing rocks and bottles. Federal personnel deployed tear gas and smoke grenades to clear crowds. Witnesses reported military-style helicopters sweeping low over the fields, a tactic intended to flush out individuals hiding among the crops.

Ventura County Fire Department confirmed four people were hospitalized with injuries—ranging from gas inhalation to minor trauma—and three others were treated at the scene. Video footage showed several detentions as vans marked “ICE” drove onto the property.

In Carpinteria, roughly 50 ICE agents and federal officers raided a sister Glass House location, arresting additional workers amid similar protests.

U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D–Calif.) was on site criticizing the show of force. “This is deplorable. This should not be happening on our soil,” Carbajal said. “Individuals dressed like military personnel… We don’t do that in America. This was overkill.”

U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli announced that the FBI has offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of an “unknown subject” who allegedly fired a pistol at federal officers near Camarillo on July 10. The suspect remains at large.

Local leaders condemned the raids as heavy-handed and harmful to immigrant communities. Oxnard Mayor Luis McArthur decried ICE’s “bold and aggressive” tactics on social media and vowed to seek legal remedies alongside state officials.

“These actions are causing unnecessary distress and harm,” McArthur wrote. “I remain committed to exploring legal avenues to address these activities.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass have also called for an end to aggressive enforcement in their jurisdictions. Newsom, on social platform X, posted harrowing footage of children fleeing tear gas and lambasted the federal operation as “chaos, fear, and terror within our communities.”

Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott countered that 10 juveniles—eight unaccompanied—were found at the Camarillo site and that the facility is under investigation for child-labor violations.

The raids follow a similar operation earlier this week in Los Angeles’s MacArthur Park and come amid escalating tension between federal immigration authorities and California’s sanctuary policies. Los Angeles and eight other cities recently sued the Trump administration, accusing federal agents of using unconstitutional tactics to “instill fear” in immigrant communities rather than protect public safety.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)