Camillo – Since federal immigration agents have made a descent into one of the largest approved state operators in the State this month, the phones of the initiates of the cannabis industry have soared with messages of fear, sadness and confusion.
“He sent shock waves to the community,” said Hirsh Jain, founder of Ananda Strategy, who advises cannabis companies. “Everyone is on text sons.”
Glass House Brands, whose cannabis operations have contributed to making Santa Barbara and the counties of Ventura, the new California cannabis capitals, has long been among the most eminent societies of the wild border of legal cannabis of the state. Some call it the “Walmart of Weed” for its low -cost rationalized production methods, its Gargantuan market share and its phalanx of rich investors and powerful lobbyists.
But the federal immigration agents stormed the property of the company in Camillo and Carpinteria on July 10 in a cloud of tear gas, as if they were breaking a criminal business. Masks and riots agents paraded for hours through the vast greenhouses of the company while the workers fled and hid in panic. A worker, Jaime Alanís Garcia, died after falling three floors as he tried to escape the capture.
For Glass House, the consequences have been devastating. His shares, which is negotiated on the Canadian Stock Exchange, went from more than $ 7.75 per share the day before the RAID at $ 5.27 on Thursday. Some workers have disappeared in immigration and customs application in detention or bolted, too afraid to come back. Others were so traumatized that Glass House called on mourning advisers, according to a source close to the company.
Glass House Brands has long been an eminent company in the wild border of legal cannabis in California.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
Around the broader world of Legal California cannabis – where many producers and entrepreneurs have hoped that the Trump administration would legalize drugs – people have also been shaken. Did the action against Glass House put an end to the federal ceasefire of the application of laws against legal cannabis in California and dozens of other states?
And what did it mean for Glass House himself, among the largest cannabis companies in the world? How was this smooth business entity, founded by a former special education teacher and a former technological entrepreneur, in a position in which federal agents claimed to have apprehended more than a dozen undocumented minors on site?
“It couldn’t happen at a worse moment,” said Jain, the cannabis consultant, adding that the images and the rhetoric who whipped on social networks following the raid “hinders our ability to legitimize this industry in the eyes of California and the American public”.
He added that “the failure to legitimize a legal cannabis industry allows the proliferation of an illicit industry that is not responsible and engages in much more harmful practices”.
Working conditions in the cannabis industry are notoriously dark, as document it in 2022 Time survey This revealed that workers who had their salary were stolen, were forced to live in sordid and dangerous conditions and sometimes even died at work.
Glass House had no such injury or death reports before the raid and has long praised his working conditions. A source close to the company said that it paid workers more than the minimum wage, and job offers on the Internet reflect it.
However, as for almost all the agricultural work in California, some of those who worked there were undocumented. The company uses some people directly and is based on agricultural entrepreneurs to provide the rest of its workforce. A source close to the company said that work entrepreneurs certify that workers meet all laws and regulations, including 21 or over, as cannabis work in California.
In the days following the raid, federal officials announced that they had owned 361 people, including 14 minors, who, by California Law, could not work in cannabis. It was not clear how many detained people were undocumented or how many people were even working in the operation or were just nearby. At least two American citizens were taken in the Dragnet – A security guard went to work to Glass House and professor of philosophy at the Cal State Channel Islands who protested on the raid.
Internal security secretary Kristi Noem said this month that Glass House had been targeted because “we knew, in particular from cases that we had built for weeks and weeks and weeks, that there were children who could be victims of the trafficking, exploited, that there were individuals there in criminal activities.”
Glass House officials refused to comment on this article, but in a previous declaration on X, the company said that it had never used minors and that it followed all applicable employment laws. A source close to the company said that federal search officials presented to Glass House on the day of the alleged raid that he was suspected of nourishing and employing undocumented immigrants – but has not mentioned child work.
In recent years, the company – with work entrepreneurs – has been appointed to prosecution by workers alleging that they had been sexually harassed, suffered from discrimination and have been short -circuited and required meals and rest breaks.
A worker in Glass House – who asked not to be identified because he is undocumented and hidden from immigration agents during the raid before escaping – said he was employed to work in the Glass House cannabis operation thanks to one of his work entrepreneurs and appreciated the work because he is all year round, not seasonal as many agricultural jobs.
But he complained that the entrepreneur had paid him several times late, forcing him to borrow money to make his rent. He also said that supervisors exercised intense pressure on employees to work faster, crying for explanatives to workers, refusing to allow breaks or shout them to eat quickly and return to work before their rest periods were finished.
A source close to the company said that complaints concerned persons employed by work entrepreneurs, concerning the actions of entrepreneurs and not directly in glass.
Many costumes are pending, with Glass House named co-defender. Company officials refused to comment on publicly.
A source close to the company said that Glass House took its responsibilities seriously under Californian labor law and undertakes to guarantee that all work practices within its operations meet the highest standards.
The source added that the RAID has shaken a business that has always tried to operate by the book and that, despite its exponential growth in recent years, has sought to maintain a very united feeling.
“It’s very sad,” said the source.
In the wake of Glass House raids, United Farm Workers Union published a bulletin In English and Spanish warning anyone who is not an American citizen to “avoid working in the cannabis industry, even in state -related operations”. The union noted that “because cannabis remains criminalized under federal law, any contact with federal agencies could have serious consequences even for persons with legal status.”
TEDEC Juriel Center, a group based in Coachella Valley which supports immigrants and agricultural workers, published a similar message. Todec warned non -citizens to avoid working in the marijuana industry and avoiding discussing any consumption or possession of marijuana – even if it is legal in California – with federal agents, as this could harm their status.
The federal agents carry out a descent of brands of the glass house on Laguna Road in Camallo.
(Julie Leopo / for time)
About half of agricultural workers in California are undocumented, according to researchers from UC Merced. Experts from the cannabis industry said it was too early to find out if the Glass House raid would affect greater cannabis workforce – or if more approved cannabis operations will be searched.
“My best guest would be that it will happen in many more culture farms,” said Meilad Rafiei, managing director of the cannabis consulting group that we can.
Among the undocumented workers of Glass House on the day of the raids, there were Alanís, 56, who had been an agricultural worker in California for three decades. Over the past 10 years, Alanís has worked in the Ventura region, first in a flower nursery, then once Glass House has converted the massive greenhouse complex there, in cannabis.
Monday evening, his family had an emotional wake for him in Oxnard, where he lived. Camino del Sol funeral home was filled because many family members stood closely and cried. They remembered him as a hardworking and joyful man, who danced during the holidays and appreciated every meal he shared with his family.
Senator of the State Monique Limón (D-Goleta), who directed the Senate by adjourning to the memory of Alanís last week, explained to the room how he had climbed on the roof of a greenhouse to escape the federal officers. From 30 feet, she said, he called his family to tell them what was going on and to point out “how afraid he was”.
“Jaime’s life was dedicated to our lands, our crops and the supply of his family,” said Limón, adding that he had no criminal record, he was dependent on our country and our state to provide food on all our tables. “
She added that “her last moments on earth were filled with terror”.
