{"id":16171,"date":"2025-10-08T14:28:19","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T14:28:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/?p=16171"},"modified":"2025-10-08T14:28:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T14:28:19","slug":"calif-pot-farm-owner-raided-by-ice-donated-to-newsom-dems-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/?p=16171","title":{"rendered":"Calif. Pot Farm Owner Raided By ICE Donated to Newsom, Dems"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Records show that Graham Farra, co-founder and president of Glass House Farms, a site where migrant children as young as 14 were found working, has contributed thousands of dollars to Gov. Gavin Newsom and other state Democrats.<\/p>\n

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Glass House Farms, based in Ventura County, is California\u2019s largest cannabis cultivator and was once praised as a leader in \u201cgreen,\u201d environmentally friendly cannabis.<\/p>\n

ICE agents rounded up 361 undocumented workers last Thursday, including 14 minors-eight of whom were unaccompanied-during a raid that turned violent as protesters clashed with officers. One worker died after falling from a greenhouse during the operation.<\/p>\n

Farra has previously contributed to numerous Democratic candidates and causes in California, including a $10,000 donation to Gavin Newsom\u2019s 2018 campaign.<\/p>\n

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Campaign finance records also show he gave to the Santa Barbara County Democratic Central Committee\u2019s federal PAC and to Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-CA). In 2019, the Los Angeles Times reported that Farra was photographed presenting an oversized check to local school officials for a scholarship fund.<\/p>\n

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\u201cGlass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors,\u201d the farm\u2019s parent company, Glass House Brands, incredulously said in an X post.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are focused on taking care of our people and our plants,\u201d Farrar himself said in an X post reported by Fox News before he or someone else deleted it.<\/p>\n

Glass House Brands, co-founded by Graham Farra and former police officer and teacher Kyle Kazan, had a market cap of $300 million as of last year, according to business blogger Alejandro Cremades.<\/p>\n

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The Los Angeles Times reported that Kazan is a supporter of President Trump. The company, which markets itself on sustainable and ethical practices\u2014including low-carbon and water-efficient farming\u2014did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a saga of passion, perseverance, and a profound belief in the positive impact of cannabis on individuals and society,\u201d Cremades wrote of Farra\u2019s career in the business.<\/p>\n

However, the Trump administration is telling a different version of the story. Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the conditions for the children looked \u201clike exploitation, forced child labor, and potentially human trafficking or smuggling while facing assault and even gunfire.\u201d<\/p>\n

Juan Duarte-Velasquez, an illegal immigrant from Mexico with prior rape and DUI convictions, was among those arrested on the farm.<\/p>\n

Newsom did not respond to a\u00a0New York Post<\/a>\u00a0request for comment about the donations he has received from Farra or the fact that unaccompanied migrant children were found there. But he did find time to criticize Fox News for its coverage.<\/p>\n

\u201cSure is rich for Fox News and the Trump Admin to point to campaign donations to Democrats, when in fact, the CEO is a Trump supporter who donated to my recall and has given to more Republicans,\u201d he posted on the X platform.<\/p>\n

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President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has\u00a0given<\/a>\u00a0federal immigration agents \u201ctotal authorization\u201d to defend themselves in the wake of violent clashes with protesters during a recent enforcement operation at the California cannabis farm.<\/p>\n

The authorization came after the president said on\u00a0Truth Social<\/a>\u00a0he watched in disbelief \u201cas THUGS were violently throwing rocks and bricks at ICE Officers while they were moving down a roadway in their car.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTherefore, I am directing Secretary of Homeland Security,\u00a0Kristi Noem, and Border Czar,\u00a0Tom Homan, to instruct all ICE, Homeland Security, or any other Law Enforcement Officer who is on the receiving end of thrown rocks, bricks, or any other form of assault, to stop their car, and arrest these SLIMEBALLS, using whatever means is necessary to do so. I am giving Total Authorization for ICE to protect itself, just like they protect the Public.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cI never want to see a car carrying a Law Enforcement Officer attacked again! AUTHORIZATION IMMEDIATELY GRANTED FOR ARREST AND INCARCERATION.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Getty Images This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion. Records show that Graham Farra, co-founder and president of Glass House Farms, a site where migrant children as … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16172,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16171"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16173,"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16171\/revisions\/16173"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}