
Image source, Yesenia Durán
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- Author, Writing
- Author's title, BBC News World
It was one of the greatest raids that have been seen from President Donald Trump launched his anti -immigrant policy when he arrived at the White House in January.
Dozens of federal agents and the National Guard, with weapons that throw rubber bullets, tear gas and heavy vehicles, arrived on July 10 to an agricultural area of Ventura County, northern Los Angeles.
They had arrived there to “execute judicial orders,” said the Department of National Security (DHS). But the chaos soon followed the scene.
“(The agents) arrived as if they went to war,” a witness told the Telemundo chain from the place. “All armed, with large guns, helmets, gas tanks (cans),” he said.
While some workers tried to flee, others started to protest and confrontation was generated, as can be seen in videos disseminated by the employees and activists in social networks.
In the middle of the raid, Jaime Alanís, a 57 -year -old Mexican immigrant, communicated with his relatives to tell them what was happening. Shortly after the roof of a greenhouse fell, says the family.
“He was persecuted by ICE agents (US immigration and control service) and told us that he fell from a height of 30 feet (about 9 meters),” said his niece Yesenia Durán.
In the beginning there was confusion about the state of Alanís, since several media, citing the United Farmer World union, reported on Friday they had died. On Saturday morning, however, his family reported that he was still connected to a machine that kept him alive, something confirmed by the Ventura County Medical Center. It was Saturday night when it was disconnected.
“We were still looking for justice. He died from the reckless raid of ICE. He suffered a fracture in the neck and skull … My uncle Jaime was an innocent and hardworking farmer,” he added in an online support request for repatriation expenses to Mexico.
Image source, Getty Images
The DHS demarted from Alanís's death. “Although he was not being persecuted by the forces of the order, this individual rose to the roof of a greenhouse and fell from a height of 30 feet (about 9 meters),” the press office said in a statement.
The agents requested help, adds the statement made public by the DHS, attributable to spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin, “so that (Alanís) could be treated as soon as possible.”
But their relatives demand justice for the death of the Mexican who, they say, was the only support of his wife and daughter in the Mexican state of Michoacán.
The mass raid
The raids had two Glass House Farm farms, one of the largest companies that cultivate legal sales cannabis in California.
The massive arrival of federal agents generated alert in a region of the state where there has been an atmosphere of great tension for weeks for the undocumented shares of the Donald Trump government.
The DHS said that among the objectives was the arrest of “illegal foreigners” with “criminal charges.”
As reported by the agency, the agents carried out two raids and arrested “at least 361” undocumented in the two work centers of Camarillo, a municipality about 60 kilometers north of Los Angeles, in Ventura County, and in carpentry, in the neighboring neighbor of Santa Barbara.
Image source, Getty Images
The DHS also announced that during the operation at the Glass House Farm facilities “they rescued” 14 minors “of what seems to be exploitation, forced child labor and, potentially, trafficking or traffic of people.”
The Customs Commissioner and Border Protection, Rodney Scott, said in that line that Glass House Farms is now under investigation for alleged violation of child labor laws.
The company denied the accusations and assured that it has never hired minors knowing about it.
“Glass House has never deliberately violated the practices applicable to hiring and has never employed or employed minors,” said the company.
According to laws that regulate child labor and that can be consulted on the US Department of Labor Department, the minimum age for agricultural employment is 14 years out of school hours and 12 with parental consent in writing.
The company also added that it was notified of detention orders by migratory and naturalization cases, which verified that they were valid and complied with them.
According to the authorities, more than 500 protesters tried to stop the operation and during the confrontation in the Camarillo area, a protester was apparently recorded pointing to the agents with a gun.
The National Security Department reported on Friday that the protester shot at the agents of the order and that the FBI offered US $ 50,000 for information that led to his arrest.
The agency also announced that four American citizens were being prosecuted, accused of assaulting or resisting the agents, and that the protesters had damaged vehicles.
Image source, Getty Images
Angelica Preciado, a legal Rural Lesistance spokeswoman, told the agency Reuters That some Glass House Farm workers were incommunicado for hours and could only call their relatives after signing documents in which they accessed voluntary deportation.
Meanwhile, migrant defense groups and defense organizations denounce these operations as actions that sow terror among the local community.
“These violent and cruel federal actions terrorize US communities, disturb the country's food supply chain, threaten lives and separate families,” said United Farmer Workers, an association of field workers based in California.
“There is no city, state or Federal District in which it is legal to terrorize and stop people for being brunette skin and work in agriculture. These raids must cease immediately,” he claimed.
The DHS crossed out the comments of “flatly false.”
United Farmer Workers is not the only organization that has denounced migratory arrests based on skin color and without any other foundation.
Image source, EPA
After a complaint filed by a series of groups before a District Court in the case of arrests in Pasadena, California, federal judge Maame Frimpong on Friday issued two temporary restriction orders that prevent the DHS from arresting suspicious migrants based on racial profiles and denying the apprehended people the right to speak with a lawyer.
In her ruling, Judge Frimpong said there was a “mountain of evidence” that federal agents had been carrying out “selective arrests that go against the Constitution.”
He argued that the authorities cannot be based “only” on factors such as “breed or ethnic origin”, “if they speak Spanish or English with an accent” or “the presence in a specific place.”
Apart from this, the Trump government insists that it is giving priority to stop “violent criminals”, while ICE tries to fulfill a daily fee of 3,000 arrests.
“The brave men and women in the United States are expelling murderers, members of the MS-13 band, pedophiles, rapists … Really the worst of the worst of the communities of Golden State (California),” wrote the Department of National Security in the Social Network X, in response to the judgment of Judge Frimpong.
Calling
Following the raids of Ventura and Santa Barbara County, workers' organizations say they will continue with the protests in rejection of anti -immigration policies and called on a strike in the fields from July 16 to 18.
“It is a work strike to defend our rights,” said Lourdes Cárdenas, an activist from the Central Valley of California, one of the most productive regions of the country's agri -food industry.
“We are not criminals. We are the backbone of our food system and we are tired of being treated as if we were disposable,” added the prominent activist and defender of migrants Flor Martínez Zaragoza.
Although President Trump has promised that he will deport hundreds of thousands of undocumented people, he also said last month that agricultural workers would not be among their priorities.
Experts say that if the workforce is cut in the fields, where a considerable part of the workers are undocumented, the United States would experience the increase in food and an increase in inflation.
More than 40% of their workers do not have papers, according to estimates of 2022 of the Department of Agriculture; A percentage that in California reaches 50%, according to an investigation by the University of California, Merced.
They make up 4% of the entire undocumented workforce of the country, calculates the Center for Migration Studies.
Image source, Getty Images
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