OXNARD — A father who has change into the only caretaker for his two younger kids after his spouse was deported. A college district seeing absenteeism just like what it skilled in the course of the pandemic. Companies struggling as a result of prospects are scared to go outdoors.
These are only a sampling of how this a part of Ventura County is reckoning with the aftermath of federal immigration raids on Glass Home hashish farms six months in the past, when a whole lot of employees have been detained and households break up aside. In some situations, there’s nonetheless uncertainty about what occurred to minors left behind after one or each dad and mom have been deported. Now, whereas Latino households collect for the vacations, companies and eating places are largely quiet as anxiousness about extra Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids lingers.
“There’s plenty of worry that the neighborhood resides,” mentioned Alicia Flores, government director of La Hermandad Hank Lacayo Youth and Household Heart. This time of yr, shoppers normally ask her about her vacation plans, however now nobody asks. Households are divided by the U.S. border or have family members in immigration detainment. “They have been prepared for Christmas, to make tamales, to make pozole, to make one thing and rejoice with the household. And now, nothing.”
On the time, the immigration raids on Glass Home Farms in Camarillo and Carpinteria have been a few of the largest of their type nationwide, leading to chaotic scenes, confusion and violence. At the least 361 undocumented immigrants have been detained, a lot of them third-party contractors for Glass Home. A type of contractors, Jaime Alanis Garcia, died after he fell from a greenhouse rooftop within the July 10 raid.
Jacqueline Rodriguez, in mirror, works on a buyer’s hair as Silvia Lopez, left, proprietor of Divine Hair Design, waits for patrons in downtown Oxnard on Dec. 19.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Instances)
The raids catalyzed mass protests alongside the Central Coast and despatched a chill via Oxnard, a tight-knit neighborhood the place many households work within the surrounding fields and dwell in multigenerational properties way more modest than many on the Ventura County coast. It additionally reignited fears about how farmworker communities — typically among the many most low-paid and weak elements of the labor pool — could be focused in the course of the Trump administration’s intense deportation marketing campaign.
In California, undocumented employees characterize almost 60% of the agricultural workforce, and lots of of them dwell in mixed-immigration-status households or households the place none are residents, mentioned Ana Padilla, government director of the UC Merced Group and Labor Heart. After the Glass Home raid, Padilla and UC Merced affiliate professor Edward Flores recognized financial traits just like the Nice Recession, when private-sector jobs fell. Though undocumented employees contribute to state and federal taxes, they don’t qualify for unemployment advantages that would reduce the blow of job loss after a member of the family will get detained.
“These are households which have been extra affected by the financial penalties than every other group,” Padilla mentioned. She added that California ought to contemplate distributing “alternative funds” for employees and households which have misplaced earnings due to immigration enforcement exercise.
An Oxnard retailer proprietor who sells quinceañera and baptism clothes — and who requested that her title not be used — says she has misplaced 60% of her enterprise because the immigrant raids this yr at Glass Home farms.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Instances)
Native companies are feeling the results as properly. Silvia Lopez, who has run Divine Hair Design in downtown Oxnard for 16 years, mentioned she’s misplaced as a lot as 75% of enterprise after the July raid. The salon normally noticed 40 shoppers a day, she mentioned, however on the day after the raid, it had solely two shoppers — and 4 stylists who have been surprised. Already, she mentioned, different salon homeowners have needed to shut, and she or he reduce her personal hours to assist her remaining stylists make sufficient every month.
“Every part modified for everybody,” she mentioned.
In one other a part of city, a retailer proprietor who sells quinceañera and baptism clothes mentioned her gross sales have dropped by 60% each month since August, and shoppers have postponed purchasing. A automobile store proprietor, who declined to be recognized as a result of he fears authorities retribution, mentioned he supported President Trump due to his marketing campaign pledge to assist small-business homeowners like himself. However federal loans have been troublesome to entry, he mentioned, and he feels betrayed by the president’s deportation marketing campaign that has focused communities reminiscent of Oxnard.
“There’s plenty of worry that the neighborhood resides,” mentioned Alicia Flores, government director of La Hermandad Hank Lacayo Youth and Household Heart in downtown Oxnard, on Dec. 19, 2025.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Instances)
“Glass Home had a big effect,” he mentioned. “It made folks understand, ‘Oh s—, they’re hitting us laborious.’ ”
The raid’s domino impact has raised considerations in regards to the welfare of kids in affected households. Immigration enforcement actions can have detrimental results on younger kids, in accordance with the American Immigration Council, and they are often vulnerable to experiencing extreme psychological misery.
Olivia Lopez, a neighborhood organizer at Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economic system, highlighted the predicament of 1 father. He grew to become the only caretaker of his toddler and 4-year-old son after his spouse was deported, and might’t afford little one care. He’s contemplating sending the youngsters throughout the border to his spouse in Mexico, who misses her youngsters.
In a separate scenario, Lopez mentioned, an 18-year-old has been all of a sudden thrust into caring for 2 siblings after her mom, a single mum or dad, was deported.
Moreover, she mentioned she has heard tales of kids left behind, together with a 16-year-old who doesn’t need to depart the U.S. and reunite along with her mom who was deported after the Glass Home raid. She mentioned she suspects that at the least 50 households — and as many as 100 kids — misplaced each or their solely mum or dad within the raid.
“I’ve questions after listening to all of the tales: The place are the youngsters, in circumstances the place two dad and mom, these liable for the youngsters, have been deported? The place are these kids?” she mentioned. “How did we get up to now?”
Robin Godfrey, public info officer for the Ventura County Human Companies Company, which is liable for overseeing little one welfare within the county, mentioned she couldn’t reply particular questions on whether or not the company has change into conscious of minors left behind after dad and mom have been detained.
“Federal and state legal guidelines stop us from confirming or denying if kids from Glass Home Farms households got here into the kid welfare system,” she mentioned in a press release.
The raid has been jarring within the Oxnard College District, which was closed for summer time trip however reopened on July 10 to contact households and guarantee their well-being, Supt. Ana DeGenna mentioned. Her workers known as all 13,000 households within the district to ask whether or not they wanted sources and whether or not they needed entry to digital lessons for the upcoming faculty yr.
Even earlier than the July 10 raid, DeGenna and her workers have been getting ready. In January, after Trump was inaugurated, the district sped up putting in doorbells at each faculty website in case immigration brokers tried to enter. They referred households to organizations that might assist them draft affidavits so their U.S.-born kids might have authorized guardians, in case the dad and mom have been deported. They requested dad and mom to submit not only one or two, however as many as 10 emergency contacts in case they don’t present as much as decide up their kids.
Rodrigo is contemplating transferring again to Mexico after dwelling within the U.S. for 42 years.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Instances)
With a district that’s 92% Latino, she mentioned, almost everyone seems to be fearful, whether or not they’re immediately or not directly affected, regardless if they’ve citizenship. Some households have self-deported, leaving the nation, whereas kids have modified households to proceed their education. Practically each morning, as raids proceed within the area, she fields calls about sightings of ICE automobiles close to faculties. When that occurs, she mentioned, she is aware of attendance will likely be depressed to close COVID-19 ranges for these surrounding faculties, with dad and mom afraid to ship their kids again to the classroom.
However in contrast to the pandemic, there isn’t a aid in understanding they’ve skilled the worst, such because the Glass Home raid, which noticed a whole lot of households affected in only a day, she mentioned. The necessity for psychological well being counselors and help has solely grown.
“We have now to be there to guard them and care for them, however we’ve got to acknowledge it’s a actuality they’re dwelling via,” she mentioned. “We are able to’t cease the educational, we are able to’t cease the schooling, as a result of we additionally know that’s a very powerful factor that’s going to assist them sooner or later to doubtlessly keep away from being victimized in any approach.”
Jasmine Cruz, 21, launched a GoFundMe web page after her father was taken in the course of the Glass Home raid. He stays in detention in Arizona, and the household employed an immigration lawyer in hopes of getting him launched.
Every month, she mentioned, it will get more durable to repay their hire and utility payments. She managed to lift about $2,700 via GoFundMe, which didn’t totally cowl a month of hire. Her mom is contemplating transferring the household again to Mexico if her father is deported, Cruz mentioned.
“I attempted telling my mother we must always keep right here,” she mentioned. “However she mentioned it’s an excessive amount of for us with out our dad.”
Most of the households torn aside by the Glass Home raid didn’t have plans in place, mentioned Lopez, the neighborhood organizer, and a few households have been resistant as a result of they believed they wouldn’t be affected. However after the raid, she acquired calls from a number of households who needed to know whether or not they might get household affidavit varieties notarized. One notary, she mentioned, spent 10 hours working with households without spending a dime, together with some former Glass Home employees who evaded the raid.
“The way in which I at all times clarify it’s, look, every part that’s being accomplished by this authorities company, you’ll be able to’t management,” she mentioned. “However what you’ll be able to management is having peace of thoughts understanding you probably did one thing to guard your kids and also you didn’t depart them unprotected.”
For a lot of undocumented immigrants, the alternatives are few.
Rodrigo, who’s undocumented and worries about ICE reprisals, has made his dwelling together with his guitar, which he has been taking part in since he was 17.
Whereas taking a break outdoors a downtown Oxnard restaurant, he seemed drained, wiping his brow after serenading a pair, a pair and a bunch at a Mexican restaurant. He has been within the U.S. for 42 years, however because the summer time raid, enterprise has been sluggish. Now, folks now not need to rent for home events.
The 77-year-old mentioned he needs to retire however has to proceed working. However he fears getting picked up at random, primarily based on how abusive brokers have been. He’s fascinated about the brand new yr, and returning to Mexico on his personal accord.
“Earlier than they take away my guitar,” he mentioned, “I higher go.”
