NO PROTECTION

U.S. Army Vet Shares Dire Warning After Being Detained by ICE

Iraq veteran George Retes says agents smashed his car window, pepper-sprayed him, and jailed him for three days—before releasing him without charges.

Army vet George Retes thought his military background and and U.S. citizenship would protect him. Instead, masked ICE agents shattered his window, tear-gassed him, and pinned a knee on his neck as he arrived for work at Glass House Farms in Camarillo, California, on July 10. The marijuana-farm sweep—one of the Trump administration’s largest, with more than 360 arrests—left Retes on suicide watch in federal lock-up for three days, unable to shower, call a lawyer, or comfort his three-year-old daughter on her birthday, before officers freed him uncharged. Retes, who served in Iraq in 2019, now plans to sue through a crowdfunder, and is warning others. He told AP: “It doesn’t matter if your skin is brown… or if you’re a veteran. They don’t care. They’re just there to fill a quota.” Gov. Gavin Newsom blasted the raids that left one farmworker dead.