The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is accusing a U.S. Congressman of inciting violence against a federal employee during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid of a cannabis facility on July 10 in California.
DHS officials said July 14 that House Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Calif., was “among the mob of rioters who attacked federal immigration authorities” and had “doxed” an ICE public affairs specialist during last week’s raid of licensed cannabis cultivator Glass House Farms’ grow site in Carpinteria (Santa Barbara County). Federal agents also executed a search warrant operation at Glass House’s facility in Camarillo (Ventura County).
The raids resulted in 361 arrests and 14 migrant children being taken into custody amid potential labor violations, according to the DHS. Also, a 47-year-old man died from injuries sustained at the cannabis facility in Camarillo while the raids were underway. In addition, civilians were injured and transported to hospitals after federal officers deployed tear gas and rubber bullets, as well as reports of smoke canisters and a stun grenade.
RELATED: ICE Raids at California Cannabis Farms Now Involve 14 Children, 361 Arrests, 1 Death
However, as tensions between California Democrats and President Donald Trump’s executive agencies continued to mount in the days following the raids, the DHS posted a photo on Monday of an ICE official’s small hand wound that the department said was caused by a thrown rock. The DHS claimed the ICE employee had to go to the emergency room to get stitches for the injury. The employee was not identified, and no medical record was provided.
www.dhs.gov
According to the DHS, Carbajal received a business card from the ICE public affairs specialist and then made the specialist a target for violence when he showed the business card “to the mob.” The ICE employee was subsequently attacked, according to the DHS.
“The actions by Representative Carbajal are downright un-American. He dares to claim that his actions were simply congressional oversight, but doxing ICE personnel and inciting a mob of rioters to attack law enforcement is NOT oversight—it’s abominable,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a public statement. “His actions sent an ICE employee to the emergency room. It’s no wonder that ICE agents are facing a 700% increase in assaults when radical members of Congress like Salud Carbajal and LaMonica McIver are openly encouraging and leading their supporters in assaulting law enforcement.”
U.S. House Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., pleaded not guilty last month to charges that she assaulted and interfered with ICE officers, as federal prosecutors claim she attempted to block Newark, N.J., Mayor Ras Baraka from being arrested in May, when the mayor was ordered to leave an oversight visit to a privately owned detention center used by ICE officials, The Associated Press reported.
In California, Carbajal said the doxing accusation against him is a “blatant attempt” to distort what occurred in Carpinteria.
“DHS and ICE conducted their raid using a disturbing and disproportionate level of force, both on the farm workers they were targeting and the peaceful protesters who gathered to defend their neighbors,” the representative wrote on X. “I witnessed agents, in full military gear, fire smoke canisters and other projectiles into a crowd of peaceful civilians. Just before I arrived at the scene, witnesses told me the agents threw a stun grenade into the crowd. Several civilians were injured, including a child.
“This aggressive behavior in a normally quiet part of the Central Coast sparked alarm across our community, prompting a flood of calls and messages to my office from concerned citizens. I went to the scene to seek answers and represent my constituents. ICE’s claims of ‘doxxing’ and ‘violent mobs’ are familiar deflection tactics designed to distort public perception and to evade accountability for their aggressive actions in our community.”
The day after the ICE raids at Glass House Farms’ cultivation sites in Carpinteria and Camarillo, Trump was on his way back from visiting Texas on July 11, when the president said he watched “thugs” throwing rocks and bricks at ICE vehicles moving along roadways.
Trump ordered federal agents to take whatever actions are necessary to protect themselves moving forward.
“I am directing Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, and Border Czar, Tom Homan, to instruct all ICE, Homeland Security, or any other Law Enforcement Officer who is on the receiving end of thrown rocks, bricks, or any other form of assault, to stop their car, and arrest these SLIMEBALLS, using whatever means is necessary to do so,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I am giving Total Authorization for ICE to protect itself, just like they protect the Public.”
In California, federal agents arrested four U.S. citizens whom DHS officials said were criminally processed for assaulting or resisting officers during the Glass House Farms raids. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) offered a $50,000 reward on July 11 for information leading to the arrest of another individual, whom DHS officials said fired a gun at law enforcement officials.
The July 14 announcement highlighting a small hand wound provides the only known injury sustained by an ICE officer in connection with the “mob of 500 rioters” during the raids.
Noem commended the ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents for their bravery.
