Federal officials confirmed that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids took place in Ventura County on Tuesday.
“FBI Los Angeles and partner agencies conducted immigration enforcement operations in the Ventura County area today in support of ERO Los Angeles,” the agency announced on X.
In response, local congressmembers Julia Brownley (D-Ventura County) and Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara/San Luis Obispo counties) released a joint statement, calling the recent immigration sweeps “cruel,” “reckless,” and “unconscionable.”
“We have received disturbing reports of ICE enforcement actions in Ventura County, including in Oxnard, Port Hueneme, and Camarillo, where agents have reportedly stopped vehicles, loitered near schools, and attempted to enter agricultural properties and facilities in the Oxnard Plain,” read the statement. “These actions are completely unjustified, deeply harmful, and raise serious questions about the agency’s tactics and its respect for due process.”
Out of multiple videos posted on social media earlier in the day, one shared to Instagram by 805 UndocuFund, a nonprofit that helps undocumented residents get short-term financial relief, shows ICE agents questioning a worker with a bright yellow shirt next to the Camarillo fields along Laguna Road. The group is standing next to a black, unmarked vehicle; it is unclear whether the car belonged to the unidentified worker or the federal officers.
“Hola?” the woman filming the interaction asks the group from afar, inquiring in Spanish about what the federal officers are doing with the worker. This purportedly took place at 5:30 a.m.
“Mind your own business,” an ICE officer responds to the woman, telling her to stay back. “They know their right, they’ve been here for 30 years, they get it. We’re doing our job.”
The woman responds, saying, “We don’t want people to be separated from their families—I don’t think you get it,” to which the officer replies, “Are you here legally?”
She asks back, “How are you asking me that right now?” and he responds, “Because that’s my job, I’m an immigration officer. Do you have documents to be here?”
When the woman says she doesn’t have to answer his question, the ICE agent says, “Fine, so, leave—you’re right.” And then he and the other officers go back to detaining the worker.
The Central Coast congressmembers addressed in their statement how immigration officers have recently been targeting open-air workplaces, such as farms, construction sites and service industries.
“ICE should be focused on individuals who pose real threats to public safety, not terrorizing entire communities with broad, unjust sweeps,” their statement said. “This is not how you keep people safe.”
For information on resources and how to respond to ICE raids, click here.
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