Camarillo — Ever since federal immigration brokers raided one of many largest licensed hashish operators within the state this month, the telephones of hashish trade insiders have been blazing with messages of worry, unhappiness and confusion.
“It despatched shock waves by way of the group,” stated Hirsh Jain, the founding father of Ananda Technique, which advises hashish companies. “Everyone seems to be on textual content threads.”
Glass Home Manufacturers, whose hashish operations have helped make Santa Barbara and Ventura counties the brand new hashish capitals of California, has lengthy been among the many most outstanding firms within the state’s wild frontier of authorized hashish. Some name it the “Walmart of Weed” for its streamlined, low-cost manufacturing strategies, its gargantuan market share and its phalanx of rich buyers and highly effective lobbyists.
However federal immigration brokers stormed onto firm property in Camarillo and Carpinteria on July 10 in a cloud of tear gasoline, as in the event that they have been busting a felony enterprise. Brokers in masks and riot gear marched for hours by way of the corporate’s huge greenhouses as employees fled and hid in panic. One employee, Jaime Alanís Garcia, died after he fell three tales whereas attempting to evade seize.
For Glass Home, the aftermath has been devastating. Its inventory, which is traded on the Canadian inventory alternate, dropped from greater than $7.75 a share the day earlier than the raid to $5.27 on Thursday. Some employees disappeared into Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention or bolted, too fearful to return. Others have been so traumatized that Glass Home introduced in grief counselors, based on a supply near the corporate.
Glass Home Manufacturers has lengthy been a outstanding firm in California’s wild frontier of authorized hashish.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Instances)
Throughout the broader world of authorized California hashish — the place many growers and entrepreneurs have hoped the Trump administration would legalize the drug — individuals have been additionally shaken. Did the motion towards Glass Home sign an finish to federal regulation enforcement’s ceasefire towards authorized hashish in California and dozens of different states?
And what did it imply for Glass Home itself, among the many largest hashish firms on the planet? How might this slick company entity, based by an ex-cop and particular training trainer and a former tech entrepreneur, be ready wherein federal brokers claimed to have apprehended greater than a dozen undocumented minors on web site?
“This might not come at a worse time,” stated Jain, the hashish advisor, including that the pictures and rhetoric which have whipped throughout social media within the wake of the raid “impedes our potential to legitimize this trade within the eyes of California and the American public.”
He added that “a failure to legitimize a authorized hashish trade permits the proliferation of a bootleg trade that isn’t accountable and engages in way more nefarious practices.”
Working circumstances within the hashish trade are notoriously grim, as documented in a 2022 Instances investigation that exposed employees who had their wages stolen, have been pressured to dwell in squalid and harmful circumstances and typically even died on the job.
Glass Home had no such studies of accidents or deaths earlier than the raid and has lengthy touted its working circumstances. A supply near the corporate stated it pays employees greater than minimal wage, and web job postings mirror that.
Nonetheless, as with nearly all farmwork in California, a few of those that labored there have been undocumented. The corporate employs some individuals instantly and depends on farm labor contractors to produce the remainder of its workforce. A supply near the corporate stated labor contractors certify that the employees fulfill all legal guidelines and laws, together with being 21 or older as required to work in hashish in California.
Within the days after the raid, federal officers introduced that they had detained 361 individuals, together with 14 minors, who by California regulation can’t work in hashish. It wasn’t clear what number of of these detained have been undocumented or what number of have been even working on the operation or have been simply close by. At the least two Americans have been caught up within the dragnet — a safety guard headed to work at Glass Home and a philosophy professor at Cal State Channel Islands who was protesting the raid.
Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem stated this month that Glass Home had been focused as a result of “we knew, particularly from casework we had constructed for weeks and weeks and weeks, that there was youngsters there that may very well be trafficked, being exploited, that there was people there concerned in felony exercise.”
Glass Home officers declined to remark for this text, however in an earlier assertion on X, the corporate stated that it had by no means employed minors and that it adopted all relevant employment legal guidelines. A supply near the corporate stated the search warrant federal officers introduced to Glass Home the day of the raid alleged it was suspected of harboring and unlawfully using undocumented immigrants — however didn’t point out baby labor.
In the previous couple of years, the corporate — together with labor contractors — was named in lawsuits by employees alleging that they had been sexually harassed, suffered discrimination, and been shorted extra time pay and required meal and relaxation breaks.
One employee at Glass Home — who requested to not be recognized as a result of he’s undocumented and hid from immigration brokers through the raid earlier than escaping — stated he was employed to work in Glass Home’s hashish operation by way of considered one of its labor contractors and valued the job as a result of it’s 12 months spherical, not seasonal like many agricultural jobs.
However he complained that the contractor had repeatedly paid him late, forcing him to borrow cash to make his lease. He additionally stated supervisors put intense stress on workers to work sooner, screaming expletives at employees, refusing to permit breaks, or yelling at them to eat rapidly and return to work earlier than their relaxation durations have been achieved.
A supply near the corporate stated the complaints concerned individuals employed by labor contractors, relating to actions by these contractors and never Glass Home instantly.
Most of the fits are pending, with Glass Home named as a co-defendant. Firm officers declined to remark publicly.
A supply near the corporate stated Glass Home takes significantly its tasks beneath California labor regulation and is dedicated to making sure that each one labor practices inside its operations meet the best requirements.
The supply added that the raid has shaken an organization that has at all times tried to function by the guide and that, regardless of its exponential progress lately, has sought to keep up a close-knit really feel.
“It’s very unhappy,” the supply stated.
Within the wake of the raids at Glass Home, the United Farm Employees union issued a bulletin in English and Spanish warning anybody who will not be a U.S. citizen to “keep away from working within the hashish trade, even at state-licensed operations.” The union famous that “as a result of hashish stays criminalized beneath federal regulation, any contact with federal businesses might have severe penalties even for individuals with authorized standing.”
TODEC Authorized Middle, a Coachella Valley-based group that helps immigrants and farmworkers, issued an analogous message. TODEC warned noncitizens to keep away from working within the marijuana trade and keep away from discussing any marijuana use or possession — even whether it is authorized in California — with federal brokers, as a result of it might harm their standing.
Federal brokers conduct a raid of Glass Home Manufacturers on Laguna Highway in Camarillo.
(Julie Leopo / For The Instances)
About half the farmworkers in California are undocumented, based on UC Merced researchers. Hashish trade specialists stated it’s too quickly to know whether or not the raid on Glass Home will have an effect on the bigger hashish workforce — or whether or not extra licensed hashish operations might be raided.
“My finest visitor can be that that is going to be occurring to much more cultivation farms,” stated Meilad Rafiei, chief government of the hashish consulting group We Cann.
Among the many undocumented employees at Glass Home on the day of the raids was Alanís, 56, who had been a farmworker in California for 3 a long time. During the last 10 years, Alanís labored within the Ventura space, first in a flower nursery after which, as soon as Glass Home transformed the huge greenhouse advanced there, in hashish.
On Monday night time, his household held an emotional wake for him in Oxnard, the place he lived. The Camino del Sol Funeral Dwelling was stuffed, as many relations held each other tightly and cried. They remembered him as a hardworking, joyful man, who danced at events and loved each meal he shared with household.
State Sen. Monique Limón (D-Goleta), who led the Senate in adjourning in Alanís’ reminiscence final week, advised the chamber how he had climbed onto the roof of a greenhouse to flee federal officers. From 30 ft up, she stated, he referred to as his household to inform them what was occurring, and to report “how scared he was.”
“Jaime’s life was devoted to our lands, our crops, and to offering for his household,” Limón stated, including that he “had had no felony file, he was who our nation and our state trusted to supply meals on all of our tables.”
She added that “his final moments on Earth have been stuffed with terror.”
