How a Weed Farm Exposed California’s Trafficking Crisis

Last week, an immigration raid at a farm in Camarillo led to hundreds of arrests and the rescue of migrant children. It’s no surprise that the raid sparked protests, gunfire, and national backlash. But the results of this raid go much deeper than just recent conversations around immigration policy – now there are serious questions of child trafficking, forced labor, and our state’s role in protecting children.  

What Happened in Camarillo?

Last Thursday ICE conducted a raid in Ventura County, which is just north of Los Angeles, at Glass House Farms – a marijuana farm. Federal immigration officers had a warrant for the arrest of illegal immigrants, and the farm was under investigation for labor violations – namely, child labor and exploitation.[1] Nearly 400 illegal immigrants were arrested in the raid, many of whom had criminal backgrounds that included crimes like “kidnapping, child molestation, rape, serial burglary, and hit and runs.”[2] But, the most shocking result of this raid was that 14 migrant children were rescued from what appeared to be an instance of human trafficking and child labor. Customs and Border Patrol Commissioner, Rodney Scott, posted on X that almost all the minors were unaccompanied, and that one was even as young as just 14 years old.[3]

Now, this raid sparked another round of outrage and protests. Five-hundred protestors showed up at the farm to confront ICE as the raids were ongoing. They threw rocks at the ICE agents and broke the windows of their vehicles, and one of the protestors fired a gun at the immigration enforcement officers.[4] Protestors were arguing that the raids were overkill, that ICE is terrorizing hard-working immigrants who do the jobs that average Americans don’t want to do – like farm labor, and that children were crying because their parents were being ripped away from them. Even Governor Gavin Newsom outright condemned the raids, saying, quote, “Kids [are] running from tear gas, crying on the phone because their mother was just taken from the fields.”[5]

I want to really focus specifically on the facts of the situation that took place here, because it’s important to be clear.

To the argument that ICE is terrorizing local farms and hard-working laborers who provide us our food – that is not true in this instance. Now, like I’ve said before, that isn’t true in any instance because ICE is carrying out enforcement of federal immigration law, so they aren’t choosing to terrorize anyone, they are ensuring that the laws our country has in place aren’t broken without consequence, but putting that aside, in this specific case that especially is not true.

This was not just some family farm with laborers picking fruit that ends up in your grocery store. This was a marijuana farm, and one that employed undocumented immigrants illegally, for whom ICE had warrants to rightfully raid and arrest.

And then, looking at the claim that these are just hardworking immigrants seeking a better life – again, we have to look honestly at the situation, and that just was not the case in this instance. ICE had warrants for illegal immigrants with criminal records – records that none of us, regardless of our political affiliations, should defend or be comfortable with. I can’t stress enough that there were men working at this farm who had committed rape, kidnapping, and child molestation. These are not your average everyday citizens. These are criminals!

And lastly, the claim here was used that children are having their parents ripped away from them. But the only children in this case are those who were actually rescued by immigration enforcement – rescued from men with histories of molestation and rape, and rescued from conditions like forcing them to work on a marijuana farm as minors without documentation – conditions that are illegal and that they should be rescued from.

The only reason that children are involved at all is because of bad policies that have put them in danger and allowed criminals to exploit them. We saw under the Biden Administration that 300,000 immigrant children went missing and were completely unaccounted for[6] – and they didn’t just go missing into good situations, they are being put in situations just like this – into forced labor, human trafficking, and other untold horrors.

So, in this case, the truth is that this ICE raid actually uncovered something far worse and I would argue even more important than just bad immigration policy. This raid exposed the realities of human and child trafficking that are taking place in our own state, right around us.

Passage of AB 379 & Disturbing Compromises

This is sobering for me, because I don’t live that far away from Camarillo. I have probably driven past or been in areas close to this very farm, where children – minors – were being forced to work illegally. But this isn’t even the worst of what is happening in our state. California has a massive human and sex trafficking crisis on its hands.

California consistently records the highest number of human trafficking cases in the United States.

In 2023, California identified 1,128 human trafficking cases, involving 2,045 victims, the highest total in the country.[7]

In 2021, California accounted for 13% of trafficking cases and victims nationwide, continuing a trend from previous years where the state was either first or near the top in the nation.[8]

Sex trafficking makes up nearly nine in ten, about 89%, of reported cases of human trafficking in California, and the majority of trafficking victims are female.[9]

This means that human trafficking isn’t something that happens “somewhere else.” It’s here. It’s in California – on busy streets, in suburban neighborhoods, behind store counters, and even on farms that you drive by without a second thought. Victims aren’t always locked in basements or chained to beds. Many are hidden in plain sight: underage girls at bus stops, young boys working illegal jobs, or teens lured into “relationships” by traffickers who know exactly how to manipulate them. This crisis could be happening right next door to you. And unless we choose to see it, speak about it, and act on it, it will keep growing in silence.

But simply knowing about it isn’t enough to address it – we need real, legislative change. And that brings us to a very important bill that was passed earlier this year in California, Assembly Bill 379.

Back in February, Assemblymember Maggy Krell and Senator Shannon Grove introduced and sponsored AB 379 as a response to current gaps in California’s laws around human trafficking – specifically sex trafficking.[10] The bill proposed that any adult who solicited sex from a minor in California would face felony charges.[11]

Okay so hold on, you might be wondering: why in the world is an adult buying sex from a minor not ALREADY a felony offense?? And if you’re asking that, you aren’t alone, because Senator Grove asked that same question last year. Before September of 2024, under California Penal Code, any adult who solicited, offered, or engaged in commercial sex with someone under 18, even with knowledge of that person’s age, was charged with a misdemeanor for that action, meaning the only repercussions were up to a year in county jail and a fine up to $10,000.[12]

Let me just repeat that. The law of the land in California has been that adults – full on adults – can BUY sex from children – who they KNOW are children – and the actual act of purchasing sex is only classified as a misdemeanor, resulting in *maybe* a year of jail time maximum. That is insane.

The reasoning for this was because prosecutors could stack on additional charges – so the argument is, well, if an adult has sex with a minor, then they will also be charged with statutory rape, and so most likely there will be other charges attached. But regardless of that, the act of an adult soliciting sex with a child shouldn’t just be morally objectionable – it should have severe legal consequences as well, and it should be unfathomable in a civilized and ordered society.

Senator Grove agrees with this sentiment, and so last year she introduced Senate Bill 1414. This bill, as originally written, would have made soliciting any minor under the age of 18 for commercial sex a felony. Offenders would face two to four years in state prison, up to $25,000 in fines, and mandatory sex offender registration for repeat offenses[13] – which just feels like a requirement that should be considered the baseline for any adult trying to solicit sex from a child.

That bill did pass, but it passed with so many amendments that it didn’t really achieve the goal of tightening up laws in this area. The Senate Public Safety Committee made some drastic changes:

1.     They removed the strict liability clause, meaning that the accused must know or should have known the person was a minor,

2.     Made the offense a "wobbler"– so that means that it could be charged as either misdemeanor or felony – so a felony isn’t mandatory,

3.     Limited felony eligibility to cases involving minors under 16 – so 16- and 17-year-olds might only be misdemeanors unless additional trafficking evidence existed, and

4.     Registration for sex offender status only triggers under narrow conditions.

So, just to paint the picture for you, under California law, there could be a 50 year old man soliciting commercial sex from a 13 year old girl, and he could only be charged with a misdemeanor, he could not have to register as a sex offender, or he could even not be charged at all if he claims he didn’t know she was a minor. Does that sound like California is doing its best to prevent and protect minors from trafficking situations to you?

So that was last year, but we need to get back to this year with Assembly Bill 379. This new bill is trying to close the loopholes that were created under Senate Bill 1414. Initially, AB 379 proposed that any adult who tried to solicit sex from a minor would be charged with a felony – regardless of if the minor was over 16, and without the wobbler option to charge with a misdemeanor.

But, just as it happened with SB 1414, the bill faced amendments before it was passed. So, AB 379 did just pass in May, but a carve out exception was added to say that the offense would only be charged as a felony for 16- and 17-year-olds if the age gap between the minor and the adult is greater than 3 years. It also raised the burden of proof for prosecutors, requiring evidence of trafficking for 16- and 17-year-olds, even with an age gap larger than 3 years.[14]

Let’s make this tangible.

Let’s say a 35-year-old solicits a 13-year-old. This will now be charged as a felony under California law. But say that instead of a 13-year-old, the minor was 17. Now it could still qualify as a felony because the age gap is greater than 3 years between the adult and the minor, but the prosecutor must show evidence of trafficking.

Okay now let’s say the adult is 20 instead of 35. Well if a 20-year-old solicits sex from a 17-year-old, then the age gap is only three years, and so it does not qualify as a felony under AB 379.

In reality, none of these situations are okay or should be allowed legally, but they could all have different outcomes because California will not make a blanket law that say soliciting sex for anyone under 18 is a felony. And here’s the most dangerous situation, and honestly most likely for traffickers:

Let’s say a 40-year-old man targets a vulnerable 17-year-old girl. He doesn’t directly buy sex from her, but instead, he uses a younger adult (like a 19- or 20-year-old man) to be the buyer. The trafficker grooms the 17-year-old emotionally or financially – maybe as a fake boyfriend, protector, or father figure. He convinces her to “help out” or “make money” by doing sex work. Instead of being the buyer himself, he arranges for a young man (age 19–20) to solicit sex from her. That buyer is only 2–3 years older than her, so under AB 379, he can only be charged with a misdemeanor, not a felony. The trafficker then takes a cut of the money, controls the victim’s phone or movements, and possibly runs multiple girls, but keeps himself legally distanced from the actual sex acts.

This is the loophole that the amendments to AB 379 create – and it is both incredibly dangerous and ineffective for preventing, catching, and punishing human trafficking in California.

Mixed Signals and Partisan Politics

Why does understanding these bills matter? I would argue that most people have no idea that this is the state of the law in California – a state that claims to be progressive, compassionate, and victim-centered. We must shine a light on laws that allow traffickers to thrive in the dark.

California legislators – and key representatives in government like our own governor – claim that they care about children, that they care about families – we see this with all of the chaos ensuing from the ICE raids. They are so quick to lament how children and families will be disrupted. But then, when they have a real chance to make actionable, legislative change, that will protect, and in many cases SAVE, countless children who are falling victim to the human trafficking epidemic across our state – they compromise.

So, which is it? Do they actually care about children, or is it just performative politics meant to appeal to their base without sounding too out of touch? Virtue signaling with words alone does nothing for us – only action matters.

And here’s the point I really want to make – this isn’t an issue that should be partisan. This should be something we all agree on! That means that when ICE raids a workplace and they find CHILDREN who are enduring forced labor and human trafficking while surrounded by illegal immigrants who have track records of abusing children, the focus should not be on why ICE is conducting a raid there, the focus should be on the fact that this farm has been allowed to operate with such deplorable conditions! Both conservatives and liberals – Republicans and Democrats alike – should be outraged that the immigration policies of the past 4 years allowed for these conditions to be perpetuated unnoticed, and should be thankful that these kids were rescued by federal immigration officers.

Likewise, when it comes to the laws in our state around these practices, Democrats and Republicans alike should be united in passing the strictest laws imaginable to prevent any type of trafficking from happening here – especially to children.

The only right side here is the side that actually protects kids in California. And if our laws don’t reflect that, then all the political outrage we see being demonstrated today is meaningless.

References:

[1] Casiano, Louis, and Landon Mion. “Immigration Operation at California Cannabis Farms Leads to Clash Between Federal Agents and Protesters.” Fox News, July 11, 2025. https://www.foxnews.com/us/immigration-operation-california-cannabis-farms-leads-clash-federal-agents-protesters.

[2] Jewell, Zach. “Nearly 400 Illegals Arrested in Raid on California Pot Farm, DHS Says,” July 14, 2025. https://www.dailywire.com/news/nearly-400-illegals-arrested-in-raid-on-california-pot-farm-dhs-says?author=Zach+Jewell&category=undefined&elementPosition=20&row=3&rowHeadline=Latest+News&rowType=Vertical+Carousel&title=Nearly+400+Illegals+Arrested+In+Raid+On+California+Pot+Farm%2C+DHS+Says.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Jewell, Zach. “Violent Leftists Attack Federal Agents During Immigration Raids at California Pot Farms,” July 11, 2025, https://www.dailywire.com/news/violent-leftists-attack-federal-agents-during-immigration-raids-at-california-pot-farms?author=Zach+Jewell&category=News&elementPosition=3&row=0&rowType=Vertical+List&title=Violent+Leftists+Attack+Federal+Agents+During+Immigration+Raids+At+California+Pot+Farms.

[5] Casiano and Mion, “Immigration Operation at California Cannabis Farms Leads to Clash Between Federal Agents and Protesters,” July 11, 2025.

[6] U.S. Department of Homeland Security. “Management Alert - ICE Cannot Monitor All Unaccompanied Migrant Children Released From DHS and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Custody,” August 19, 2024. https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2024-08/OIG-24-46-Aug24.pdf.

[7] “Human Trafficking Statistics by State 2025,” worldpopulationreview.com, n.d., https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/human-trafficking-statistics-by-state.

[8] Harris, Heather. “Human Trafficking in California.” The Public Policy Institute of California, February 15, 2023. https://www.ppic.org/blog/human-trafficking-in-california/.

[9] Ibid.

[10] Assemblywoman Maggy Krell. “Assemblywoman Krell Introduces the Survivor Support and Demand Reduction Act,” February 25, 2025. https://a06.asmdc.org/press-releases/20250225-assemblywoman-krell-introduces-survivor-support-and-demand-reduction-act

[11] Riquelmy, Alan. “California Solicitation Bill Passes Final Hurdle.” Courthouse News Service, July 14, 2025. https://www.courthousenews.com/california-solicitation-bill-passes-final-hurdle/

[12] The Ward Chambers. “How Bad Is Buying a Child for Sex? CA Sen. Bill 1414,” April 17, 2024. https://wardchambers.com/2024/04/17/how-bad-is-buying-a-child-for-sex-ca-sen-bill-1414/

[13] August, JW. “Bill to Make All Child Prostitution a Felony in California Facing Opposition.” Times of San Diego, May 23, 2024. https://timesofsandiego.com/politics/2024/05/22/bill-to-make-child-prostitution-a-felony-in-california-faces-setback-in-senate-committee/

[14] Harris, Laura. “California Lawmakers Weaken Bill Targeting Child Sex Buyers.” Newstarget.com, May 3, 2025. https://www.newstarget.com/2025-05-03-lawmakers-weaken-a-bill-targeting-child-predators.html