Undocumented minors found in raid at cannabis farm

(NewsNation) — Raids astatine 2 Southern California cannabis farms resulted successful dozens of arrests arsenic good arsenic drafting respective 100 protesters, starring to clashes with officers.l

A raid astatine 1 workplace stretched into the night, portion of a coordinated operation headed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Glass House Farms, which operates 2 monolithic cannabis increasing facilities, was raided by ICE officers. Among those taken into custody, according to Customs and Border Patrol Commissioner Rodney Scott, were 10 minors, 8 of them successful the state illegally aft entering arsenic unaccompanied minors.

As connection of the cognition spread, activists and protesters descended connected 1 determination northwest of Los Angeles.

Glass House Farms bills itself arsenic the largest cannabis cognition successful the world. On Thursday morning, convoys of subject and migration enforcement vehicles arrived astatine the farm, taking dozens of workers into custody. Many were lined up and guarded extracurricular the gathering earlier being taken away.

Clashes betwixt protesters and national officials got convulsive astatine times, with officers deploying teardrop gas, flash bang grenades and non-lethal rounds. Dozens of protesters were arrested.

One protester appeared to unfastened occurrence astatine national agents with a handgun successful a video posted connected X. The FBI is present offering a $50,000 reward for his seizure and conviction.

"They tin protestation each they want, but if they transverse the line, they're going to beryllium arrested and they're going to beryllium prosecuted," said borderline czar Tom Homan. "There's zero tolerance. They person the First Amendment rights, I had 1,000 protesters astatine my house, whatever. You're not going to halt me. I'm not going to unopen up, [I'll] support doing what I'm doing. But you can't transverse that line."

A 2nd raid took spot simultaneously astatine different Glass House determination astir 35 miles distant successful Santa Barbara County. It's not yet known however whitethorn radical were taken into custody but the numer is said to beryllium successful the dozens.

That cognition took astir a period to plan, Department of Homeland Security sources told NewsNation, which is emblematic for an cognition of that size.

Officials volition not spell successful without immoderate benignant of guidance oregon plan, and NewsNation was contiguous arsenic hundreds of instrumentality enforcement and subject unit gathered to beryllium briefed connected a ngo weeks agone to dismantle 3 amerciable marijuana turn operations connected national land.

Operations whitethorn beryllium led by ICE, Homeland Security oregon the Drug Enforcement Agency. During briefings, each teams are told what they would beryllium doing and wherever they would beryllium working, on with contingency plans if things spell south.

Operations focused connected dismantling amerciable cannabis operations are present besides anticipating encountering radical who are moving illegally.

"So what we cognize is that transgression follows crime," said DEA Agent Anthony Chrysanthis. "In bid to get these transgression grows productive, they person to scope retired ot undocumented workers to get it done. A batch of times, erstwhile these workers are trafficked successful here, they're fundamentally held hostage against their will. They person to enactment disconnected immoderate it outgo to get them present and truthful they're detained and we find them successful places wherever they can't escape."

During a erstwhile raid successful Riverside County, officials arrested astir 70 undocumented individuals who they accidental were moving determination illegally.

The DEA and national partners executed hunt warrants astatine antithetic locations, which covered 787 acres. Two radical were really recovered wrong a trailer with padlocks wrong and outside. Agents really had to interruption done those, showing that immoderate of the radical were moving determination against their will.

One idiosyncratic arrested was a U.S. national who was taken successful for impeding oregon attempting to impede operations.