Family members and friends of workers at a Ventura County marijuana farm targeted in an immigration enforcement operation visited the location Friday hoping to reunite with them after a day of chaos and confusion near Camarillo.
Dozens of people were taken into custody in the federal operation at Glass House Farms, where authorities said they were executing criminal warrants. The Department of Homeland Security said 200 people were arrested in the operations near Camarillo and at another Glass House Farms property in the Santa Barbara County community of Carpinteria.
A young boy was among those at the farm Friday morning in Camarillo. Speaking to NBCLA with permission from his father, the boy said he is looking for his mother, who is two months pregnant and did not return home from work Thursday evening.
“I want to go to get my mom, but I can’t get her,” Juan said through tears. “My mom gave us everything. Everything we need.”
Juan said his mother, who is from Mexico, has been working at Glass House Farms for a little more than a month. The farm, one of the largest licensed marijuana farms in California, became the focus of what authorities said is the largest immigration raid under the Trump administration.
Dozens of people were detained at a farm near Camarillo on Thursday. Lauren Coronado reports for the NBC4 News at 6 a.m. on July 10, 2025.
Workers who were inside the farm during the operation said agents surrounded employees and took hundreds of people into custody. Some family members who spoke with NBCLA Friday said their loved ones might still be hiding at the farm.
During the Thursday raid, video showed several white vans, similar to those seen at other immigration enforcement operations in Southern California, and at least one U.S. Marshals Service bus at the scene. Details about where the detained individuals were taken in the vans and bus were not immediately available.
Some family members of workers were at the property early Friday seeking to reunite with loved ones or attempting to find out where they were taken after the raid.
Federal agents descended on the Glass House Farms properties in Camarillo and Carpinteria to execute criminal warrants, according to federal authorities. DHS said the law enforcement activity was part of an investigation into immigration and potential child labor violations.
Glass House Farms said on social media that it was visited Thursday by officials for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and “fully complied with agent search warrants.” State records show the company has multiple active licenses to cultivate cannabis in California, where it is legal to do so with proper licensing.
Employees at the Camarillo farm Friday did not respond to requests for comment on the operation.
The FBI has issued a reward for information about a person who appeared to open fire at an immigration enforcement operation in rural Ventura County. Video broadcast Friday July 11, 2025 on Today in LA.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection commissioner said 10 undocumented minors were found on the properties, eight of whom were unaccompanied.
During a standoff that went on for hours near Camarillo, agents clashed with protesters on roads surrounded by sprawling farm fields in the community northwest of Los Angeles. Four people were arrested on suspicion of assaulting or resisting officers, the DHS said.
The FBI also issued a $50,000 reward for a person armed with a gun who appeared to open fire during one of the altercations. No injuries related to gunfire were reported.
More details about the allegations included in the warrants were not immediately available, but the DHS said information will be released as the investigation continues.
Among seven people injured during the Camarillo clash with the federal agents, four of them were taken to a hospital while three others were treated and released at the scene, the Ventura County Fire Department confirmed Thursday.
Federal immigration enforcement agents have ramped up arrests in Southern California, carrying out operations at car washes, farms and home improvement store parking lots. The Trump administration has activated the National Guard to protect federal properties and personnel, and several Guard members and vehicles were seen near Camarillo.
More than 55,000 migrants nationwide have been taken into ICE custody over the past six months, according to data compiled by NBC News. About 28 percent have criminal convictions with about 25 percent having pending criminal charges. About 47 percent were listed as “other immigration violator.”
California is home to 10.6 million immigrants, more than any other state, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. The Pew Research Center estimates that 1.8 million immigrants in California were undocumented in 2022, a figure that dropped from 2.8 million in 2007.
At least half of the estimated 255,700 farmworkers in California are undocumented, according to UC Merced Research.