The death of 57-year-old Jaime Alanís García as the result of an ICE raid in Camarillo, California, marks a turning point in the fascistic assault on immigrants and the entire working class. García, a farmworker, fell 30 feet while fleeing federal agents during a July 10 violent operation at the Glass House Farms cannabis facility. 

Jaime died as a direct consequence of a brutal, militarized immigration crackdown spearheaded by the Trump administration and supported by both capitalist parties. He is the first known martyr in what is becoming an American Gestapo campaign—a term not used lightly, with deliberate historical weight. García was also a husband, a father and the sole provider for his family in Mexico, whose survival depended on the remittances he sent back from his low-paid labor in California.

His blood is on many hands. It stains not only Trump and his cabal of fascist advisers and enforcers, but the entire Democratic and Republican establishment, whose policies over decades have criminalized immigration, sanctioned raids, fortified the border and empowered agencies like ICE with sweeping powers to terrorize communities. Jaime Alanís García died as millions live—in fear of arrest, deportation or worse—for the crime of being born in the “wrong” place and seeking to work.

His death has resonated with working people across the country. A GoFundMe organized in his name has raised over $160,000 as of Monday—a testament to the love and solidarity he inspired, and the depth of grief and outrage his death has provoked.

On July 10, ICE launched coordinated raids at two Glass House Farms cannabis facilities in Camarillo and Carpinteria, storming the sites with federal agents, armored vehicles and helicopters. Over 300 people, including at least 4 US citizens, were arrested in the raids. Amid this military-style assault, federal officials proudly announced they had discovered “at least ten child laborers.”

Rather than indicting the capitalist system that employs children in backbreaking agricultural labor in 2025 California, the state has moved to criminalize the victims of that exploitation. The “discovery” of child workers is now being cynically used to retroactively justify the raid and mass arrests, deflecting attention from the real scandal: that in the richest state of the richest country on earth, such 19th-century barbarism exists as a matter of course.

The “sanctuary state” lie and the role of the Democrats

On July 11, a video surfaced showing around two dozen children and women in federal custody, hands chained, shuffling single file through a Los Angeles federal building parking garage. The footage, confirmed by attorneys with the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights Los Angeles (CHIRLA), sparked outrage. 

Jorge-Mario Cabrera of CHIRLA condemned the scene as “barbaric,” emphasizing that these were children, not criminals. While the children were later reported “safe” by attorneys from CHIRLA’s Rapid Response Network, Cabrera emphasized this offered little comfort. The Trump administration’s actions were denounced as shameful, and ICE officials have not responded to questions about the detentions.

California has long been promoted as a “sanctuary state” by Democratic politicians like Governor Gavin Newsom—who recently signed a state budget that effectively condemns undocumented immigrants to illness and destitution—and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. This is a lie. The illusion of California as a safe haven for immigrants is shattered every time ICE conducts a raid with the assistance of local law enforcement.

On the contrary, California is being used as the model for a deliberate militarization of society, as evidenced by recent federal military-style operations in MacArthur Park, Los Angeles codenamed Operation Excalibur. This assault deployed armored vehicles, helicopters and heavily armed agents, normalizing paramilitary tactics against working class communities and immigrants.

Repeated investigations and whistleblower reports have revealed that California police departments have illegally collaborated with ICE and Border Patrol. Over 100 instances were documented in June alone of Southern California police agencies illegally sharing data from automated license plate readers with federal immigration authorities, in flagrant violation of state law.

In downtown Los Angeles, LAPD officers were seen assisting federal agents in detaining immigrants, managing protest crowds, and even deleting video evidence of the raids—targeting not only undocumented workers but US citizens attempting to film abuses.

The cowardice and complicity of the trade unions

The United Farm Workers (UFW), which historically claims to represent immigrant laborers, has once again proven itself utterly bankrupt. In a revealing interview, UFW President Teresa Romero admitted that raids have been ongoing “for months,” yet the union’s response has been limited to calls for nonviolence and “peaceful protest,” appealing to the very politicians responsible for unleashing ICE.

Romero acknowledged that the raids have forced farmworkers to stay home out of fear but emphasized that “they don’t make a lot of money ... so they know they have to go to work.” She also highlighted efforts to work with politicians on a “pathway to citizenship” for those who have labored for “40 or 50 years.” This grotesque approach—where security is a reward for decades of poverty—is a damning indictment of the UFW’s pro-capitalist orientation.

The union’s current stance aligns with its long history of anti-immigrant positions. In 1969, UFW founder Cesar Chavez and the union protested undocumented workers as strikebreakers and even reported some to immigration authorities. In the early 1970s, the UFW’s “Wet Line” campaign physically attacked migrant workers crossing the border, seeing them as threats to union power.

More recently, the 2010 “Take Our Jobs” campaign sought to shame native-born workers into farm labor, reinforcing racist stereotypes and evading the real issue: systemic exploitation. The UFW operates not as a defender of immigrant workers but as an instrument of class collaboration and containment.

The arrest and disappearance of Dr. Jonathan Caravello

The true scope of repression was further exposed by the arrest of Dr. Jonathan A. Caravello, a philosophy and math lecturer at California State University Channel Islands. During the Camarillo raid, Caravello reportedly tried to assist a disabled man in a wheelchair after ICE agents fired teargas, with one canister landing beneath the chair.

Suddenly, multiple agents seized Caravello, threw him to the ground and dragged him into an unmarked vehicle. For days, his whereabouts were unknown and he reportedly had no access to his medications, prompting outcry from advocacy groups. 

The California Faculty Association, of which he is a member, has issued a statement condemning the abduction as a grave “attack on our constitutional rights to free speech.” It is believed he was held at the Ventura County Federal Detention Facility on a $1 million bail, yet no formal charges were initially announced.

US Attorney Bill Essayli claimed Caravello had not been “kidnapped” but faced charges under 18 USC 111 for allegedly assaulting officers by throwing a tear gas canister. This statute is often used to criminalize protesters during political crackdowns. Caravello’s disappearance signals the broadening of state repression beyond immigrants to anyone daring to protest or intervene.

On Monday, more than three days after he was taken, a judge ordered Caravello released from the Los Angeles Metropolitan Detention Center.

The Trump administration’s immigration raids are a testing ground for authoritarian rule. Backed by both capitalist parties, the ruling class is preparing for mass unrest driven by deepening inequality, endless war and social collapse. The attacks on immigrants are the spearhead of this assault, aimed at normalizing paramilitary tactics and conditioning the public to accept unaccountable federal agents operating with impunity. But the ultimate target is not just immigrants—it is the entire working class.

This is why US citizens have been arrested, professors disappeared, video evidence deleted and children exploited or chained. The message from the state is unmistakable: protest, and you are the enemy.

No appeal to the Democrats or the unions will stop this. The only way forward is through the international struggle for socialism to unite workers everywhere in the fight to abolish capitalism and build a new, socialist society.