OXNARD — A father who has turn out to be the only caretaker for his two younger kids after his spouse was deported. A faculty district seeing absenteeism much like what it skilled throughout the pandemic. Companies struggling as a result of prospects are scared to go outdoors.
These are only a sampling of how this a part of Ventura County is reckoning with the aftermath of federal immigration raids on Glass Home hashish farms six months in the past, when a whole bunch of staff have been detained and households cut up aside. In some cases, there may be nonetheless uncertainty about what occurred to minors left behind after one or each dad and mom have been deported. Now, whereas Latino households collect for the vacations, companies and eating places are largely quiet as anxiousness about extra Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids lingers.
“There’s numerous concern that the neighborhood resides,” stated Alicia Flores, government director of La Hermandad Hank Lacayo Youth and Household Heart. This time of yr, purchasers normally ask her about her vacation plans, however now nobody asks. Households are divided by the U.S. border or have family members in immigration detainment. “They have been prepared for Christmas, to make tamales, to make pozole, to make one thing and have a good time with the household. And now, nothing.”
On the time, the immigration raids on Glass Home Farms in Camarillo and Carpinteria have been a few of the largest of their form nationwide, leading to chaotic scenes, confusion and violence. No less than 361 undocumented immigrants have been detained, a lot of them third-party contractors for Glass Home. A type of contractors, Jaime Alanis Garcia, died after he fell from a greenhouse rooftop within the July 10 raid.
Jacqueline Rodriguez, in mirror, works on a buyer’s hair as Silvia Lopez, left, proprietor of Divine Hair Design, waits for patrons in downtown Oxnard on Dec. 19, 2025.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Instances)
The raids catalyzed mass protests alongside the Central Coast and despatched a chill by way of Oxnard, a tight-knit neighborhood the place many households work within the surrounding fields and reside in multigenerational properties way more modest than many on the Ventura coast. It additionally reignited fears about how farmworker communities — typically among the many most low-paid and weak components of the labor pool — can be focused throughout the Trump administration’s intense deportation marketing campaign.
In California, undocumented staff symbolize practically 60% of the agricultural workforce, and lots of of them reside in mixed-immigration-status households or households the place none are residents, stated Ana Padilla, government director of the UC Merced Group and Labor Heart. After the Glass Home raid, Padilla and UC Merced affiliate professor Edward Flores recognized financial developments much like the Nice Recession, when private-sector jobs fell. Though undocumented staff contribute to state and federal taxes, they don’t qualify for unemployment advantages that would reduce the blow of job loss after a member of the family will get detained.
“These are households which were extra affected by the financial penalties than every other group,” Padilla stated. She added that California ought to take into account distributing “alternative funds” for staff and households which have misplaced revenue due to immigration enforcement exercise.
An Oxnard retailer proprietor who sells quinceañera and baptism attire — and who requested that her identify not be used — says she has misplaced 60% of her enterprise because the immigrant raids this yr at Glass Home farms.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Instances)
Native companies are feeling the consequences as effectively. Silvia Lopez, who has run Divine Hair Design in downtown Oxnard for 16 years, stated she’s misplaced as a lot as 75% of enterprise after the July raid. The salon normally noticed 40 purchasers a day, she stated, however on the day after the raid, it had solely two purchasers — and 4 stylists who have been surprised. Already, she stated, different salon homeowners have needed to shut, and she or he in the reduction of her personal hours to assist her remaining stylists make sufficient every month.
“The whole lot modified for everybody,” she stated.
In one other a part of city, a retailer proprietor who sells quinceañera and baptism attire stated her gross sales have dropped by 60% each month since August, and purchasers have postponed procuring. A automobile store proprietor, who declined to be recognized as a result of he fears authorities retribution, stated he supported President Trump due to his marketing campaign pledge to assist small-business homeowners like himself. However federal loans have been troublesome to entry, he stated, and he feels betrayed by the president’s deportation marketing campaign that has focused communities similar to Oxnard.
“There’s numerous concern that the neighborhood resides,” stated Alicia Flores, government director of La Hermandad Hank Lacayo Youth and Household Heart in downtown Oxnard, on Dec. 19, 2025.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Instances)
“Glass Home had a huge impact,” he stated. “It made individuals understand, ‘Oh s—, they’re hitting us onerous.’ ”
The raid’s domino impact has raised issues concerning the welfare of youngsters in affected households. Immigration enforcement actions can have detrimental results on younger kids, based on the American Immigration Council, and they are often liable to experiencing extreme psychological misery.
Olivia Lopez, a neighborhood organizer at Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Financial system, highlighted the predicament of 1 father. He turned the only caretaker of his toddler and 4-year-old son after his spouse was deported, and might’t afford little one care. He’s contemplating sending the kids throughout the border to his spouse in Mexico, who misses her children.
In a separate scenario, Lopez stated, an 18-year-old has been immediately thrust into caring for 2 siblings after her mom, a single guardian, was deported.
Moreover, she stated she has heard tales of youngsters left behind, together with a 16-year-old who doesn’t wish to depart the U.S. and reunite together with her mom who was deported after the Glass Home raid. She stated she suspects that a minimum of 50 households — and as many as 100 kids — misplaced each or their solely guardian within the raid.
“I’ve questions after listening to all of the tales: The place are the kids, in instances the place two dad and mom, these answerable for the kids, have been deported? The place are these kids?” she stated. “How did we get up to now?”
Robin Godfrey, public info officer for the Ventura County Human Companies Company, which is answerable for overseeing little one welfare within the county, stated she couldn’t reply particular questions on whether or not the company has turn out to be conscious of minors left behind after dad and mom have been detained.
“Federal and state legal guidelines stop us from confirming or denying if kids from Glass Home Farms households got here into the kid welfare system,” she stated in a press release.
The raid has been jarring within the Oxnard Faculty District, which was closed for summer time trip however reopened on July 10 to contact households and guarantee their well-being, Supt. Ana DeGenna stated. Her employees referred to as all 13,000 households within the district to ask whether or not they wanted sources and whether or not they wished entry to digital courses for the upcoming college yr.
Even earlier than the July 10 raid, DeGenna and her employees have been making ready. In January, after Trump was inaugurated, the district sped up putting in doorbells at each college website in case immigration brokers tried to enter. They referred households to organizations that will assist them draft affidavits so their U.S.-born kids may have authorized guardians, in case the dad and mom have been deported. They requested dad and mom to submit not only one or two, however as many as 10 emergency contacts in case they don’t present as much as choose up their kids.
Rodrigo is contemplating transferring again to Mexico after residing within the U.S. for 42 years.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Instances)
With a district that’s 92% Latino, she stated, practically everyone seems to be fearful, whether or not they’re instantly or not directly affected, regardless if they’ve citizenship. Some households have self-deported, leaving the nation, whereas kids have modified households to proceed their education. Practically each morning, as raids proceed within the area, she fields calls about sightings of ICE automobiles close to faculties. When that occurs, she stated, she is aware of attendance can be depressed to close COVID-19 ranges for these surrounding faculties, with dad and mom afraid to ship their kids again to the classroom.
However in contrast to the pandemic, there isn’t any aid in figuring out they’ve skilled the worst, such because the Glass Home raid, which noticed a whole bunch of households affected in only a day, she stated. The necessity for psychological well being counselors and help has solely grown.
“We have now to be there to guard them and care for them, however we’ve to acknowledge it’s a actuality they’re residing by way of,” she stated. “We are able to’t cease the educational, we will’t cease the training, as a result of we additionally know that’s a very powerful factor that’s going to assist them sooner or later to doubtlessly keep away from being victimized in any manner.”
Jasmine Cruz, 21, launched a GoFundMe web page after her father was taken throughout the Glass Home raid. He stays in detention in Arizona, and the household employed an immigration lawyer in hopes of getting him launched.
Every month, she stated, it will get tougher to repay their hire and utility payments. She managed to lift about $2,700 by way of GoFundMe, which didn’t absolutely cowl a month of hire. Her mom is contemplating transferring the household again to Mexico if her father is deported, Cruz stated.
“I attempted telling my mother we should always keep right here,” she stated. “However she stated it’s an excessive amount of for us with out our dad.”
Lots of the households torn aside by the Glass Home raid didn’t have plans in place, stated Lopez, the neighborhood organizer, and a few households have been resistant as a result of they believed they wouldn’t be affected. However after the raid, she acquired calls from a number of households who wished to know whether or not they may get household affidavit types notarized. One notary, she stated, spent 10 hours working with households without cost, together with some former Glass Home staff who evaded the raid.
“The best way I all the time clarify it’s, look, every part that’s being executed by this authorities company, you may’t management,” she stated. “However what you may management is having peace of thoughts figuring out you probably did one thing to guard your kids and also you didn’t depart them unprotected.”
For a lot of undocumented immigrants, the alternatives are few.
Rodrigo, who’s undocumented and worries about ICE reprisals, has made his residing along with his guitar, which he has been enjoying since he was 17.
Whereas taking a break outdoors a downtown Oxnard restaurant, he appeared drained, wiping his brow after serenading a pair, a pair and a bunch at a Mexican restaurant. He has been within the U.S. for 42 years, however because the summer time raid, enterprise has been gradual. Now, individuals not wish to rent for home events.
The 77-year-old stated he desires to retire however has to proceed working. However he fears getting picked up at random, primarily based on how abusive brokers have been. He’s eager about the brand new yr, and returning to Mexico on his personal accord.
“Earlier than they take away my guitar,” he stated, “I higher go.”
