Feds raid area cannabis operations
Federal agents took aim at one of the Central Coast’s publicly traded companies on July 10 when a Homeland Security Investigations unit raided Glass House Farms, a cannabis farm with operations in both Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.
Raids at Glass House’s farms in Carpinteria and Camarillo were conducted concurrently on July 10. Glass House Farms, which trades on a Canadian stock exchange, saw its stock price dip below $1 on July 10, with shares falling 12.6%.
Crowds of at least 100 people gathered at both raid sites, with protesters calling for the federal agents to leave the area without detaining any workers. In the crowd at the Carpinteria facility was U.S. Representative Salud Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara.
Asked about the political implications of ICE raiding a Toronto-exchange listed company in the cannabis business at a time when relations with Canada are tense, U.S. Rep Salud Carbajal told the Business Times, “I wouldn’t put it past them.”
He said the pattern of raids across California represents a “policy based on stupidity.” Targeting a single employer for military action, he said, is “improper,” and he said it represents “an immigration system run amok.”
He said focusing on California is blatantly political. “They are targeting a blue state,” he said.
The exact number of people detained by federal agents has not been reported. According to KTLA 5, at around 1:40 p.m., the news helicopter’s skycam captured footage of at least 26 people sitting against a wall with their hands cuffed together and brown paper bags in front of their feet.
