An immigration raid in Camarillo, California, on Thursday led to an hourslong standoff between protesters and federal border agents, who blocked the roads with military-style vehicles and tear-gassed community members, including children, as crowds attempted to protect dozens of farmworkers from arrest.
The Department of Homeland Security said over 300 immigrants were detained in dual raids on cannabis farms and agricultural fields in Camarillo and the coastal city of Carpinteria. One farmworker fell from the roof of a greenhouse during the immigration raid and later died of his injuries. Jaime Alanís, 57, had worked at the farm in Camarillo for 10 years and provided for his wife and daughter who live in Mexico. Alanís is the first known person to die during an immigration raid since President Trump returned to office.
"It was almost unlike anything that we had ever seen before," says Angelmarie Taylor, a
student and volunteer with 805 Immigrant Coalition who was present during the raid in Camarillo.
"We're talking about human beings. We're talking about parents, just like the gentleman that passed because of the chaotic actions of ICE," says Luis McArthur, mayor of nearby Oxnard.
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