A farm worker who fell 30 feet from a roof during an immigration enforcement operation Thursday in Ventura County remains hospitalized with ‘catastrophic’ injuries, a family member told NBCLA.
The man was hospitalized in critical condition after suffering a broken neck, broken skull and a severed artery, said a niece. She said he remained on life support Friday afternoon.
The farm worker’s family assumed he was detained by federal agents Thursday during the raid in Camarillo after he stopped replying to their text messages, his niece Yesenia said.
Federal agents arrested about 200 people on Glass House Farms properties in Camarillo and Carpinteria, according to federal authorities. The agents served criminal warrants as part of an investigation into potential immigration and child labor violations, DHS said.
“We assumed they caught him… but we got a call from the hospital that he’s in critical condition, catastrophic injuries,” Ysenia, who did not share her last name due to safety concerns, said early Friday morning. “He’s not going to make it.”
His wife and daughter in Mexico were notified of his condition, Ysenia said. Over $31,100 has been raised through crowdsourcing for medical services and a burial service that will be held in Mexico.
Earlier Friday, a United Farm Workers spokesperson said the man had died after he was hospitalized. NBCLA reached out to his niece, who said he was still alive, but on life support.
United Farm Workers Friday morning confirmed that several workers were critically injured during Thursday’s enforcement in Camarillo.
Four other people were taken to the hospital, and three others were treated and released at the scene, according to the Ventura County Fire Department. Details about their conditions were not readily available as of Friday morning.
“There is no city, state or federal district where it is legal to terrorize and detain people for being brown and working in agriculture,” UFW said in its statement. “These raids must stop immediately.”
The union said that many workers were held at the farm by federal authorities for eight hours or more, including U.S. citizens.
Citizen workers report being released after being forced to delete photos and videos from the raids from their phones, according to the UFW, while some remain “totally unaccounted for.”
Thursday’s raid is believed to be the largest immigration raid under the Trump administration.