[PRESS RELEASE] – LONG BEACH, Calif. and TORONTO, Aug. 4, 2025 – Glass House Brands Inc., one of the fastest-growing, vertically integrated cannabis companies in the U.S., announced updates to recent events.
On July 10, 2025, federal officers led by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) raided two of the company’s farms.
- A federal search warrant was served, authorizing the search for evidence of possible immigration violations under Title 8 of the United States Code.
- Very few documents were seized pursuant to the search warrant.
- The government and media have reported that approximately 360 individuals were detained or arrested during the raids for immigration violations. The Company has been unable to verify the actual number or the identities of those detained.
- Nine employees of the company were detained or arrested.
- Any other individuals detained or arrested would have been either employees of third-party contractors providing services at the company’s Camarillo farm, including the Farm Labor Contractors providing labor for the agricultural operations, or were unassociated with the company.
- Third-party Farm Labor Contractors were required by agreement to ensure that each of their employees assigned to one of the company’s facilities must be 21 and older and have valid work authorization.
- Federal authorities have reported that approximately 11 minors, ranging in age from 14 to 17 years old, were detained during the raids. While the identities of the alleged minors have not been disclosed, the company has been able to determine that, if those reports are true, none of them were Glass House employees.
- Federal labor law and California labor law permit minors as young as 12 years old to work in agriculture. As required by California cannabis regulations, however, the company requires that no one under the age of 21 work in any facility, and that the third-party Farm Labor Contractors verify and ensure that all workers they hire and assign to the company’s facilities are over the age of 21.
- An employee of the security contractor for the Camarillo facility, George Retes, was reportedly detained for three days without charges. He is a U.S. citizen and Army veteran.
- One employee of a third-party contractor, Jaime Alanis Garcia, died from injuries sustained during the raid.
- The media also reported that violent protests broke out outside the law enforcement barricades in response to the raids and resulting detentions/arrests. It is the company’s belief that no employees of the company were in any way involved in the protests.
- To the company’s knowledge, none of the individuals working at the company’s facilities on July 10, 2025, were paid less than either the federal or California minimum wage. The company has always paid a competitive and legal wage for workers, including both its employees and any third-party workers.
- For the first six months of 2025, labor contractors were paid an average net (of fees paid to the Farm Labor Companies) hourly rate of approximately $18.60 per hour. The net hourly rate was more than 12% higher than California’s minimum wage requirement (one of the highest of any state in the country) and 2.2x higher than the federal minimum wage.
Subsequent to July 10, the company has undergone significant changes.
- The company terminated its relationship with the two Farm Labor Contractors providing workers for its farms.
- The company has revised its Farm Labor Contractor agreements to ensure that their compliance processes are best in class and in accordance with the latest company standards.
- The company has engaged new Farm Labor Contractors to provide workers pursuant to the best-in-class agreements.
- The company has required the two Farm Labor Contractors who had been terminated to agree to and implement the new enhanced compliance procedures before any of its workers would be allowed access to Glass House facilities.
- The company has made significant changes to labor practices that are above and beyond legal requirements.
- Since July 10, 2025, the company has hired leading compliance consultants Guidepost Services, led by former Director of ICE and Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Julie Myers Wood, to assist the company’s counsel with implementing best practices for determining employment eligibility for its employees and for ensuring the eligibility of employees of contractors.
- All employees of the company and farm labor are now E-verified, and the underlying documents are reviewed by experts for validity and age gating.
- The company has enhanced age-gating controls for everyone entering the farms, including contracted employees, third-party vendors, visitors, customers and employees of the company.
- The company has signed a labor peace agreement for its license-holding entities (including the farm facilities) with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the largest labor organization in the United States. The agreement allows the Teamsters to present to employees throughout the company, and the company will cooperate with those efforts.
