{"id":68899,"date":"2025-07-17T03:49:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T03:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/68899\/"},"modified":"2025-07-17T03:49:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T03:49:12","slug":"army-veteran-detained-by-ice-in-california-farm-raid-speaks-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/68899\/","title":{"rendered":"Army veteran detained by ICE in California farm raid speaks out"},"content":{"rendered":"

A U.S. Army veteran who was arrested during an immigration raid<\/a> at a Southern California marijuana farm last week said Wednesday he was sprayed with tear gas and pepper spray before being dragged from his vehicle and pinned down by federal agents who arrested him.<\/p>\n

George Retes, 25, who works as a security guard at Glass House Farms in Camarillo<\/a>, said he was arriving at work on July 10 when several federal agents surrounded his car and \u2014 despite him identifying himself as a U.S. citizen \u2014 broke his window, peppered sprayed him and dragged him out. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"In<\/p>\n

In this image taken from video provided by United Farm Workers, George Retes speaks about being arrested at an immigration raid at a Southern California marijuana farm during a press conference held over Zoom in Oxnard, Calif., Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (United Farm Workers via AP)<\/p>\n

In this image taken from video provided by United Farm Workers, George Retes speaks about being arrested at an immigration raid at a Southern California marijuana farm during a press conference held over Zoom in Oxnard, Calif., Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (United Farm Workers via AP)<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt took two officers to nail my back and then one on my neck to arrest me even though my hands were already behind my back,\u201d Retes said. <\/p>\n

Massive farm raids led to hundreds being detained<\/p>\n

The Ventura City native was detained during chaotic raids at two Southern California farms<\/a> where federal authorities arrested more than 360 people, one of the largest operations since President Donald Trump took office in January. Protesters faced off against federal agents in military-style gear, and one farmworker died after falling from a greenhouse roof.<\/p>\n

The raids came more than a month into an extended immigration crackdown<\/a> by the Trump administration across Southern California that was originally centered in Los Angeles, where local officials say the federal actions are spreading fear in immigrant communities. <\/p>\n

California Gov. Gavin Newsom spoke on the raids at a news conference Wednesday, calling Trump a \u201cchaos agent\u201d who has incited violence and spread fear in communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou got someone who dropped 30 feet because they were scared to death and lost their life,\u201d he said, referring to the farmworker who died in the raids. \u201cPeople are quite literally disappearing with no due process, no rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

Retes was taken to the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, where he said he was put in a special cell on suicide watch and checked on each day after he became emotionally distraught over his ordeal and missing his 3-year-old daughter\u2019s birthday party Saturday. <\/p>\n

He said federal agents never told him why he was arrested or allowed him to contact a lawyer or his family during his three-day detention. Authorities never let him shower or change clothes despite being covered in tear gas and pepper spray, Retes said, adding that his hands burned throughout the first night he spent in custody.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, an officer had him sign a paper and walked him out of the detention center. He said he was told he faced no charges.<\/p>\n

Retes met with silence when seeking explanation <\/p>\n

\u201cThey gave me nothing I could wrap my head around,\u201d Retes said, explaining that he was met with silence on his way out when he asked about being \u201clocked up for three days with no reason and no charges.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, confirmed Retes\u2019 arrest but didn\u2019t say on what charges. <\/p>\n

\u201cGeorge Retes was arrested and has been released,\u201d she said. \u201cHe has not been charged. The U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office is reviewing his case, along with dozens of others, for potential federal charges related to the execution of the federal search warrant in Camarillo.\u201d<\/p>\n

A federal judge on Friday ordered<\/a> the Trump administration to halt indiscriminate immigration stops and arrests without warrants in seven California counties, including Los Angeles. Immigrant advocates accused federal agents of detaining people because they looked Latino. The Justice Department appealed on Monday and asked for the order to be stayed.<\/p>\n

The Pentagon also said Tuesday it was ending the deployment of 2,000 National Guard troops in Los Angeles. That\u2019s roughly half the number the administration sent to the city following protests over the immigration actions. Some of those troops have been accompanying federal agents<\/a> during their immigration enforcement operations.<\/p>\n

Retes said he joined the Army at 18 and served four years, including deploying to Iraq in 2019. <\/p>\n

\u201cI joined the service to help better myself,\u201d he said. \u201cI did it because I love this (expletive) country. We are one nation and no matter what, we should be together. All this separation and stuff between everyone is just the way it shouldn\u2019t be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Veteran pledges to sue federal authorities for his ordeal<\/p>\n

Retes said he plans to sue for wrongful detention. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe way they\u2019re going about this entire deportation process is completely wrong, chasing people who are just working, especially trying to feed everyone here in the U.S.,\u201d he said. \u201cNo one deserves to be treated the way they treat people.\u201d <\/p>\n

Retes was detained along with California State University Channel Islands professor Jonathan Caravello, also a U.S. citizen, who was arrested for throwing a tear gas canister at law enforcement, U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli posted on X.<\/p>\n

The California Faculty Association said Caravello was taken away by agents who did not identify themselves nor inform him of why he was being taken into custody. Like Retes, the association said the professor was then held without being allowed to contact his family or an attorney.<\/p>\n

Caravello was attempting to dislodge a tear gas canister that was stuck underneath someone\u2019s wheelchair, witnesses told KABC-TV, the ABC affiliate in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

A federal judge on Monday ordered Caravello to be released on $15,000 bond. He\u2019s scheduled to be arraigned Aug. 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want everyone to know what happened. This doesn\u2019t just affect one person,\u201d Retes said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter if your skin is brown. It doesn\u2019t matter if you\u2019re white. It doesn\u2019t matter if you\u2019re a veteran or you serve this country. They don\u2019t care. They\u2019re just there to fill a quota.\u201d ___ Associated Press writer Jamie Ding contributed from Los Angeles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A U.S. Army veteran who was arrested during an immigration raid at a Southern California marijuana farm last…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":66558,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[29414,2059,276,40964,48719,69,1854,57,48718,409,47189,2936,336,224,3344,8324,50,80,402,10425,41360,2065,61,67,370,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-68899","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"category-us","9":"tag-bill-essayli","10":"tag-ca-state-wire","11":"tag-california","12":"tag-camarillo","13":"tag-chemical-weapons","14":"tag-donald-trump","15":"tag-gavin-newsom","16":"tag-general-news","17":"tag-george-retes","18":"tag-immigration","19":"tag-jonathan-caravello","20":"tag-law-enforcement","21":"tag-lawsuits","22":"tag-los-angeles","23":"tag-marijuana","24":"tag-missing-persons","25":"tag-news","26":"tag-politics","27":"tag-protests-and-demonstrations","28":"tag-tricia-mclaughlin","29":"tag-u-s-army","30":"tag-u-s-immigration-and-customs-enforcement","31":"tag-u-s-news","32":"tag-united-states","33":"tag-united-states-government","34":"tag-unitedstates","35":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114866537305025850","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}