Veteran and US citizen arrested by ICE

A U.S. Army veteran says he was sprayed with tear gas, pepper-sprayed, and violently pulled from his car during a federal immigration raid at a Southern California farm — despite repeatedly telling agents he is a U.S. citizen.

George Retes, 25, a security guard at Glass House Farms in Camarillo, was arriving for work

on July 10 when federal agents surrounded his car. He says they broke his window, pulled him out, and pinned him to the ground. “It took two officers to nail my back and then one on my neck to arrest me even though my hands were already behind my back,” Retes said.

The arrest came during sweeping raids on two farms in Ventura County, where more than 360 people were detained — one of the largest immigration enforcement operations since former President Donald Trump took office. One farmworker died after falling from a greenhouse roof, and protesters clashed with federal agents in military-style gear.

Detained Without Charges

Retes, a Ventura native, was taken to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles. He said he was placed on suicide watch after becoming distraught, missing his 3-year-old daughter’s birthday while in custody.

He claims agents denied him access to a lawyer or his family, and that he was kept in tear-gas-soaked clothing for three days. On Sunday, officers released him without charges.

“They gave me nothing I could wrap my head around,” Retes said, explaining that he was met with silence on his way out when he asked about being “locked up for three days with no reason and no charges.”

Retes joined the Army at 18 and served in Iraq in 2019, “I joined the service to help better myself,” he said. “I did it because I love this (expletive) country. We are one nation and no matter what, we should be together. All this separation and stuff between everyone is just the way it shouldn’t be.”

Retes said he plans to sue for wrongful detention.

“The way they’re going about this entire deportation process is completely wrong, chasing people who are just working, especially trying to feed everyone here in the U.S.,” he said. “No one deserves to be treated the way they treat people.”