On July 10th, a massive raid occurred at a Cannabis Farm outside of Los Angeles. Over 360 people were detained, and of that group, one of them was an army veteran, George Retes. He has since detailed the experience to Military Times.
Retes was arriving to work as a security guard at Glass House Farms when he was accosted by ICE members. He identified himself as a US citizen, but the agents continued to break his window, pepper spray him and drag him out of the car.
He was then taken to a cell in downtown Los Angeles and put in a special cell, becoming more and more distraught as he missed his 3 year-olds birthday party and put on suicide watch. During his detention, he was never told why he was detained and wasn’t allowed to contact his family or a lawyer. He wasn’t allowed to shower despite being covered in pepper spray.
A federal judge halted these raids in Los Angeles County, but the Justice Department has appealed, so we’ll see what happens from here.
“I joined the service to help better myself,” Retes told Military Times. “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 plans to sue for wrongful detention.
Read the original article at Military Times.
