Cannabis farm worker in California dies day after chaotic federal immigration raid

LOS ANGELES — A farmworker at a Southern California cannabis farm died after being injured during a chaotic immigration raid by federal officers, the United Farm Workers said Friday.

The labor union did not provide the name of the employee of Glass House Farms north of Los Angeles but confirmed that the worker plummeted some 30 feet.

“These violent and cruel federal actions terrorize American communities, disrupt the American food supply chain, threaten lives and separate families,” UFW President Teresa Romero said in a statement to NBC News.

Immigration officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Federal agents lobbed less-lethal weapons and tear gas at protesters who gathered outside the Camarillo grow house Thursday while employees were being rounded up and arrested inside.

Officers pepper-sprayed a disabled U.S. Army veteran who served in Iraq and works as a security guard at the facility, the man’s wife told NBC News.

George Retes complied with federal officers when he arrived to check on friends and colleagues who might have been affected by the raids, but instead he was arrested on suspicion of assault, according to immigration officials. A hearing is scheduled Monday.

“He wasn’t even a protester,” Guadalupe Torres said of her husband, George Retes. “They smashed his window, and after they smashed his window, they pepper-sprayed him.”

Aerial footage from NBC Los Angeles showed farm equipment being loaded up into tow trucks and people standing around in handcuffs.

At a cultivation center in Carpinteria owned by Glass House Farms, manager Edgar Rodriguez said federal officers assaulted and handcuffed him after he repeatedly asked them to identify themselves and provide a warrant.

Rodriguez was standing behind a window when 10 unidentified men in fatigues arrived Thursday morning in unmarked cars and one armored vehicle.

Rodriguez, a U.S. citizen, said he asked the men several times to identify themselves and provide a reason for arriving heavily armed. The officers refused and responded by saying they were “not ICE” but did not specify which agency they were from.

One of the officers can be seen in video obtained exclusively by NBC News attempting to coax Rodriquez outside by telling him he wouldn’t be harmed.

“I’m just trying to talk to you. We’re not here for you,” the officer said in the video. “We have a federal warrant. We have a right to be here. Please come out.”

“I got you,” the officer said as Rodriguez began to tentatively leave his post.