Community members marched through Carpinteria streets on Saturday to mark the one-year anniversary of the immigration raids at the Glass House Farms cannabis facilities.
Activist organizations including Carpinteria Sin Fronteras, 805UndocuFund and SBResiste organized the protest.
“What we are seeing today is going to be written in the books of U.S. history,” said 805 UndocuFund Executive Director Primitiva Hernandez. “And this is something that this country is going to have to deal with—the harm that they’re inflicting on our communities.”
Federal agents swept Glass House Farms sites in Carpinteria and Camarillo on July 10, 2025, arresting more than 360 people across both facilities.
The Glass House Farms raids came as President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign ramped up immigration enforcement on the Central Coast and across the country.
In Santa Barbara County, immigrant detentions have increased by nearly 700%, according to data from 805UndocuFund. Activists documented 319 detentions between Jan. 1 and May 31—up from 40 detentions during the same period in 2025.
Before the march, participants gathered at the field by Carpinteria State Beach for an Aztec dance blessing at around 11 a.m. They then walked down Linden Avenue while raising posters reading, “ICE out of Carp,” “Abolish ICE” and “Rest in power Jaime Alanis.”
Jaime Alanis Garcia, a farmworker at the Glass House Farms facility in Camarillo, died after he fell off a building while fleeing federal agents during the July 2025 sweep.
Protesters chanted “No hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here,” and “All power to the people, no human is illegal” throughout the march.
Among the attendees was activist Mitch Lillie. One year ago this week, Lillie, a member of grassroots organization VC Defense, was volunteering at the Camarillo facility when it was raided by federal agents.
Lillie said he saw workers trapped in the facility and family members speaking on their phones in tears. He said he was shot in the temple by a rubber bullet.
“This was unlike anything we’ve ever seen before,” Lillie said.
The group then walked up Casitas Pass Road, gathering in a circle outside the Carpinteria Glass House Farms site.
Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara, said in a speech that people must protect immigrants’ civil rights.
“Instead of thwarting us, what did we do as a community?” he said. “We mobilized.”
Carbajal recognized people who were killed by federal agents in the past few months, including Renee Good, Alex Pretti, Ruben Ray Martinez and Lorenzo Salgado Araujo.
He said he believes that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers should “behave like any other law enforcement in the state or the country.”
Some activists said they want more sweeping changes.
“We’re not here to defund ICE,” said VC Defense member Lillie. “We are here to abolish ICE.”
Another speaker, Carpinteria Sin Fronteras Leader Penelope Lewis, said the impacts of the raids are still felt today.
“Right here, in this space, military tanks and DHS (Department of Homeland Security) agents blocked these streets and brought fear to our communities,” she said. “Today, we reclaim this space.”
Attendees should educate other community members about their rights, said Anthony Rodriguez, the co-founder of nonprofit organization Santa Barbara Response Network.
He closed the gathering outside the Glass House Farms facility with a call for solidarity.
“We all have a voice,” Rodriguez said. “Please step up and be that voice for those that don’t have one.”
