Oxnard — In a ceremony that resulted in tears and hugs, the household of Jaime Alanís Garcia mentioned goodbye to the daddy of 1 who died after making an attempt to flee from federal brokers throughout an immigration raid on the Glass Home Farms in Camarillo.
Dozens of Alanís Garcia’s members of the family, mates and neighborhood members attended the wake on the Camino del Sol Funeral Dwelling in Oxnard. Relations remembered him as a joyful, hardworking man whose loss of life got here too quickly.
“He was hiding, making an attempt to remain alive,” mentioned his niece, Yesenia Duran. “He was liked by the neighborhood.”
On July 10, federal immigration brokers raided two hashish greenhouse operations owned by Glass Home Farms, setting off an intense, hours-long standoff between federal brokers and protesters outdoors of the corporate’s Camarillo website. Greater than 300 undocumented employees had been detained, federal officers mentioned, and protesters had been injured after brokers outdoors the property shot off tear fuel canisters and less-lethal bullets.
Alanís Garcia, 56, was fatally injured when he climbed atop a greenhouse and by accident fell 30 toes whereas fleeing immigration brokers at Glass Home, his household mentioned. He was taken to the Ventura County Medical Middle, the place he was placed on life help. Duran introduced his loss of life on July 12.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has weighed in, saying that the federal government would think about authorized motion towards the U.S. after his loss of life.
“That is unacceptable,” she mentioned.
The Division of Homeland Safety has mentioned that Alanís Garcia was not amongst these being pursued and that federal brokers referred to as in a medevac for him.
Duran pushed again on that narrative, saying that they had been ready for extra solutions and witnesses into her uncle’s loss of life. “It was a reckless raid,” she mentioned, one which price her uncle his life.
On Monday, the physique of Alanís Garcia rested in a brown casket with white trim, his head coated by a black beanie. His casket was surrounded by dozens of purple roses, a hand drawn picture of him surrounded by monarch butterflies and a big association of white flowers within the form of a cross, a present from his spouse and daughter in Mexico. They’re scheduled to quickly obtain his physique, when he’s returned to his native nation.
Isaac Alanis, 28, grew up dwelling close to Alanís Garcia, who was his mom’s cousin, and got here to see him as an uncle. Alanís Garcia would come over for dinner after work almost each night time, round 6 p.m., and he liked every kind of meals, from menudo and pozole to Chinese language meals, which he would eat with a fork, as a result of he didn’t know learn how to use chopsticks, Alanis mentioned.
Earlier than arriving at Glass Home, Alanís Garcia spent 10 years working at a flower nursery, Alanis mentioned.
Generally, he mentioned, he would be a part of Alanís Garcia on the Oxnard Sunday flea market to stroll round and cross the time. His uncle, he mentioned, was an extrovert and was all the time laughing.
“He was joyful,” Alanis mentioned as he fought again tears. On his cellphone, he had saved a 2020 video of his uncle dancing at a household gathering.
On Monday, Alanis mentioned he felt inspired by the Mexican president’s message, and it strengthened the household’s resolve to get solutions in regards to the circumstances of his loss of life, he mentioned. He wore a shirt that depicted a photograph of his uncle, and on the again, it learn, “justice for Jaime.”
The temper was somber on the funeral dwelling. Exterior, a hand drawn picture of Alanís Garcia with wings sat amongst a field of pan dulces.
Representatives from the Mexican authorities arrived and provided phrases of help and condolences to the household. The Mexican consular employees in Oxnard has mentioned it will present help to Alanis Garcia’s household, providing to accompany them each in California and in his dwelling state of Michoacán in central Mexico.
A priest led the viewers in a rosary service, calling out Hail Marys in Spanish as they prayed for Alanís Garcia and his kin. The room was full, with many left standing, as they recited the prayer. Many wiped away tears.
When it got here time to bid a last farewell, members of the family held one another tightly as they cried into one another’s arms. A guitarist serenaded the viewers with songs, together with one titled, Caminos de Michoacán, Roads of Michoacán, a ranchera track that pays homage to Alanis Garcia’s homeland.
