ICE agents were ‘serving criminal search warrants as part of a criminal investigation involved with child trafficking, child labor,’ border czar Tom Homan said.
Administration officials on July 13 defended President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement operations, including one on a California marijuana farm last week that a worker advocacy group alleges led to a man’s death.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem told NBC News’s “Meet the Press” on July 13 that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained 361 illegal immigrants and encountered 14 unaccompanied minors during a July 10 operation on two marijuana farms in Southern California.
“At the California marijuana facilities, ICE and CBP law enforcement rescued at least 14 migrant children from what looks like exploitation, forced child labor, and potentially human trafficking or smuggling while facing assault and even gunfire,” DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
Among those arrested were “criminals with convictions for rape, serial burglary, hit and run and DUIs,” she added.
Both marijuana sites are operated by and licensed to Glass House Farms, which confirmed the operation and said it was fully complying with the search warrants.
United Farm Workers, a worker advocacy group, alleges that several workers were injured during the operation and reported prematurely Friday that one man died a day after he fell off a 30-foot building that he climbed. The family of Jaime Alanis, 57, later confirmed that he died Saturday.
The worker’s family created a GoFundMe page to raise funds for his family and a burial in Mexico, identifying him as Jaime Alanís.
Elizabeth Strater, national vice president of the United Farm Workers, claimed that there were U.S. citizens arrested during the operations. DHS said Monday that four U.S. citizens “are being criminally processed for assaulting or resisting officers.”
The Department of Homeland Security said its agents weren’t responsible for Alanís’s death. “Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a green house and fell 30 feet,” the agency stated.
Agents immediately ordered a medical evacuation, according to the department.
When asked about the death during an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union” on July 13, border czar Tom Homan said: “It’s sad. It’s unfortunate.
“He wasn’t in ICE custody, and ICE did not have hands on this person.
“But it’s always unfortunate when there’s deaths. No one wants to see people die.”
Homan said the agents were doing their job serving criminal search warrants.
“I see the media saying it was an ICE raid,” he said. “No, they were serving criminal search warrants as part of a criminal investigation involved with child trafficking, child labor. I think it was a total of 11 children that were found on that farm, and now they’re being interviewed.”
By Jacob Burg
