Immigration raid goes wrong, farmworker dies in California

The worker's family had launched a page on the fundraising platform GoFundMe to support his loved ones in Mexico. On Saturday, the page posted an update to announce that the worker, Jaime Alanis, had "passed away."

During the police operation in Ventura County, just over an hour's drive from Los Angeles, the man was chased by immigration agents, the family said. "My uncle Jaime Alanis was just an innocent, hardworking farmer," a family member wrote on the fundraising page. "He was chased by immigration agents, and we were told he fell 30 feet (9 meters)," he said, describing his injuries as "catastrophic."

The version of the authorities in question

The worker "was never detained" by police, Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, previously assured. "Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this man climbed onto the roof of a greenhouse and fell 9 meters," she added, specifying that the police "immediately called an ambulance."

According to the department, 200 undocumented migrants were arrested during raids in the towns of Carpinteria and Camarillo on Thursday, and 10 children were rescued "from potential exploitation, forced labor and human trafficking."

Glass House Brands, the company that owns the farms, said in a statement that it "never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not employ minors."

The department said more than 500 "rioters" attempted to disrupt the operation and that four U.S. citizens are accused of assaulting or resisting officers.

Local media footage showed masked immigration officers in riot gear dispersing dozens of protesters with tear gas, and some demonstrators throwing projectiles at police cars.

On Friday night, Donald Trump, on his Truth Social platform, ordered any federal agent "who is being stoned, bricked, or otherwise assaulted, to stop their car and arrest these SCUMMERS, using whatever means necessary to do so."

At the scene, Aaron Fuentes, a supervisor who has worked for Glass House for two years, said he saw dozens of immigration vans arrive on Thursday. "They identified people to check if they had papers or not, and then they put them one by one into the vans," he explained. "I didn't see the entire operation, but there was violence and mistreatment."