A U.S. Army veteran was detained Wednesday during a mass immigration raid in Ventura County last week, hoping to have a “full investigation” about how he would be held for three days despite being a U.S. citizen.
“It’s not just a mistake that happened to me,” he said in a written statement. “It’s a violation of my civil rights. It’s excessive force.”
In a Wednesday press conference, Retes, 25, a father of two, said he was on his way to work as a security guard at the Glass House Farm on July 10, when I was arrested between protesters and protesters. [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] Agent. ”
Retes Being attacked Through dozens of armed immigration agents.
Department of Homeland Security officials later said they detained more than 360 people in the raid, including numerous undocumented immigrants accused of committing crimes. Many workers were in panic as agents traveled through the company’s greenhouse. A 56-year-old worker, Jaime Alanis Garcia, died after falling three stories while trying to escape the prisoner.
Meanwhile, family members of protesters and workers shine on the glass house gates on Laguna Road, sending federal agents with less chemical agents deployed and less deadly ammunition.
Ettes said he worked as a contractor for security firm Securitas at Glass House for seven months. He said he unknowingly went straight into melee as he drove along Laguna Road to report his afternoon shift.
“I know nothing about it,” he said. “When I pulled up, I saw all the cars, I saw all the traffic, I just wanted to pass.”
He didn’t go to work. Instead, he said, the agent smashed his car window, peppered him and dragged him out with a gun.
“I let Agent Ice know that I’m an American citizen, I’m an American,” he said. “They don’t care. They never told me about my allegations. They sent me away.”
Retes, who served in Iraq, said agents never told him why he was detained at the Federal Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles. He said he was packed, had no phone calls, visited lawyers, and even a way to clean clothes and jam residue on his face.
Ettes said he became so painful during his detention that he was placed in suicide surveillance, but he still did not allow contact with his attorney.
Meanwhile, his sister and wife conducted tearful interviews with local TV stations, begging for information about his whereabouts.
“We don’t know what to do,” his sister Destinee Majana tells KABC-TV Channel 7 last week. “We just asked to let my brother go. He is an American citizen. He did nothing wrong. He is a veteran, disabled person. This is said in his car.”
“I just don’t know where he is. I’ve been trying to call the Sheriff, the Police Department, Oxnard, Camarillo, Ventura, his wife, Guadalupe Torres, added. “They said they don’t know.”
Finally, on Sunday, Ettes said the guards came to his cell and told him he would be released.
“A officer took me downstairs,” he recalled. “I signed a piece of paper to get my stuff back. That’s it. They told me to go.”
“George Retes was arrested and released. He has not been charged yet,” a DHS official said in a statement. [U.S. attorney’s office] His case is being reviewed, along with dozens of other cases, to involve federal charges related to the execution of a federal search warrant in Camarillo. ”
Reiters said he is now at his home in Ventura, with the kids, “loves freedom. I take it for granted.”
He recovered the car and he said there was still a smashed window, many dents and sharp pepper spray.
But he said he plans to file a lawsuit against the government in a way that is accepted.
“What they did was wrong,” he said. “I’m here to speak for everyone who doesn’t have the chance to speak.”
