Congressmember Salud Carbajal showed up to see firsthand the ICE raid on the Carpinteria Glass House cannabis greenhouse owned by Santa Barbara county grower Graham Farrar. In an interview afterward, Carbajal said there were 45 to 50 ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and Homeland Security agents dressed up in military-style scrubs and armed with military-style rifles and weapons. He saw no members of the National Guard, though it was a chaotic scene. [Editor’s note: After this story was published, Carbajal called to say that after reviewing media video footage of the raid, he could confirm that National Guard personnel were also present.] A former Marine himself, Carbajal scoffed, “They looked like they were having fun dressing up like they were in the military. I’m guessing less than half of them had ever served.”
“I wanted to find out what was going on,” Carbajal explained to the Independent. When he told them he was a member of Congress, “no one was interested,” he said. Then he sought to break through the perimeter established by the ICE agents to “find someone who was in charge,” but was pushed back. He recounted how he sought to break through more than once but was repeatedly pushed back.
“No one told me anything,” he said, and “nobody wanted to talk to me.” He asked multiple times to speak to whoever was in charge, but no one answered him. Instead, one man from ICE, Luis Alani, did hand him a business card with the phone number of a “public information strategist” he could call. Calls placed by the Independent to the number Carbajal was given have not been returned.
“It was overkill and disproportionate,” Carbajal emphasized repeatedly during this interview. “They’re militarizing our streets. They’re inciting fear, chaos, and trauma.”
When asked how the show of force affected him personally, Carbajal replied, “It’s outrageous. It angers me. It disappoints me as an American. And they’re violating the rights of U.S. citizens. If you’re brown, you’re going to have your civil rights violated.”
While there, Carbajal said, ICE agents deployed at least one flash grenade, a fragment of which, he said, injured a young girl. In addition, the agents deployed multiple smoke grenades as they were leaving the scene, presumably, he suggested, to create a visual smoke screen. In the chaos, he said, several people fell, including a Carpinteria City Councilmember Monica Solozano, who fell to the ground and injured her elbow, drawing blood.
Carbajal understands the 10 people detained were taken to an ICE holding facility in Camarillo. Where they go after that, he said, was anyone’s guess.
Carbajal said today’s action exposed as a sham the Trump administration contention that the raids were targeting immigrants with criminal histories. “It’s not about criminals. If it was, I’d say, ‘So be it.’ But it’s not. They’re going after hard-working people, people who are working jobs and who are contributing to our economy. It’s all about fear and trauma and chaos.”
Carbajal noted that the Ventura County Farm Bureau has taken a strong public position condemning the raids against agricultural workplaces. While his staff has spoken with members of Santa Barbara’s Growers and Shippers as well as the Farm Bureau, he said neither group has come out with a public position yet.
“It’s all hands on deck. They could be back tomorrow. We need people to speak out. We need people to protest,” Carbajal said. “Protest peacefully. But protest.”
