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California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been on the opposite end of many Trump administration policies, from combating illegal immigration to his economic agenda.
He most recently evoked support for businesses, possibly including marijuana growers, earlier this month when federal agents arrested dozens of illegal immigrants, some of whom were minors working alongside other migrants with convictions for murder, burglary, kidnapping and rape.
Glass House Farms is not under investigation following raids at sites in Camarillo and Carpinteria. Of the 361 illegal immigrants arrested at both locations on July 10, at least 14 were minors who were rescued from potential exploitation, forced labor, and human trafficking, the Department of Homeland Security said.
NEWSOM ESCALATES TRUMP IMMIGRATION FEUD WITH FOUL-MOUTHED INSULT
“Instead of supporting the businesses and workers that drive our economy and way of life, Stephen Miller’s tactics evoke chaos, fear and terror within our communities at every turn,” Newsom posted on X at the time of the raids, referring to President Donald Trump’s White House deputy chief of staff.
“At Miller’s direction, Trump’s agents continue to detain U.S. citizens and racially profile Americans, ripping families apart and disappearing parents and workers into cruel federal detention centers to meet their self-imposed arrest quotas,” he added.
Diana Crofts-Pelayo, Newsom’s director of communications, told Fox News Digital that the governor was not defending pot farms.
“It is simply a commentary on the tactics federal immigration officials are using to fulfill their massive detention quotas, which are causing a ripple effect within our society and economy,” she said.
NEWSOM ESCALATES TRUMP IMMIGRATION FEUD WITH FOUL-MOUTHED INSULT
During the raid in Camarillo, a man who worked at the farm, Jaime Alanis Garcia, died during the operation. Graham Farrar, the co-founder, president, and board director of Glass House Farms, has denied any wrongdoing.
“Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors,” he wrote on X at the time, Fox News Digital previously reported. “We do not expect this to affect operations moving forward. We will provide additional details when applicable.”
Trump has floated giving a “temporary pass” to migrants working at farms and in the hospitality industry to avoid a negative impact from immigration enforcement operations.
A recent Wall Street Journal opinion piece noted that while marijuana may be considered cool in California, where it is legal and taxed, voters in middle America don’t share the same sentiment. Despite being legal, the illicit market is thriving, with only 38% of the cannabis consumed in California coming from licensed growers, according to a 2024 report released by the state Department of Cannabis Control.
NEWSOM DONOR’S CANNABIS FARM UNDER FEDERAL INVESTIGATION FOR ‘CHILD LABOR VIOLATIONS’
On July 1, the California excise tax on marijuana jumped from 15% to 19%. In January, Newsom’s office said he would endorse halting the cannabis excise tax increase if a proposal ever ended up on his desk.
Amy O’Gorman Jenkins, the executive director of the California Cannabis Operators Association, said the legal cannabis industry in California is subjected to an array of taxes, noting that no other age-restricted product in the state is taxed at the same rate, including alcohol and tobacco.
“There continues to be this misunderstanding that the cannabis industry is this cash cow,” she told Fox News Digital, noting that consumers will purchase illegal cannabis rather than products from the overtaxed and over-regulated local market. “That fact of the matter is we have a very significant illicit market that’s well documented in California.
In addition, drug cartels have set up marijuana-growing operations in parts of the state. In a portion of California’s Mendocino County, drug cartels have spent significant amounts of money to establish pot farms there, Mendocino County Sheriff Matthew Kendall previously told Fox News Digital.
Earlier this month, seven Chinese citizens were charged in connection with a multimillion-dollar drug-trafficking organization that allegedly grew and distributed marijuana across the U.S. Northeast. In 2020, seven Laotian workers were killed at an illegal marijuana farm in Southern California.
“We have not reduced the illicit market. We haven’t even made a dent,” O’Gorman Jenkins said. “In large part due to the facts that consumers don’t want to pay this much in taxes when they can order products online and go into illegal shops and spend half the price.”
Shortly after the pot farm raids in California, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond called out Newsom over his stance on illegal immigration, particularly on cannabis farms.
“Gavin Newsom may protect illegal activity at marijuana farms around California, but Oklahoma will not,” Drummond wrote on Facebook. “That’s why my office is defending a state law to increase enforcement at these locations to protect innocent people and unsuspecting communities. We will not be deterred by activists attempting to shield dangerous operators and cartels.”
Following the raids on the two California cannabis farms, it was revealed that Farrar has donated thousands of dollars to California Democrats, including a $10,000 contribution to Newsom in 2018, according to California public campaign finance records.
He also made donations to Santa Barbara County Democratic Central Committee’s federal political action committee and Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Calif., according to Federal Election Commission records.
Farrar did not respond to a request for comment.
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