Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, IMMIGRATION NEWS—Worker dies after ICE agents raid California farm, (Jul 14, 2025)

By Brandi O. Brown, J.D.

According to many reports, multiple workers were injured and other workers, including U.S. citizens, remain unaccounted for.

On Thursday, July 10, ICE raided agricultural worksites in Ventura County, California, resulting in several worker injuries and at least one worker’s death, according to reports by United Farm Workers (UFW) and others. Some report that minor workers were also involved, since farm workers are excluded from certain child labor laws, although at least one of the employers denied employing minors.

Fleeing workers. Protestors arrived as the raid was ongoing and clashed with agents who were wearing camouflage gear, helmets, and gas masks. According to various reports, the man who died had worked at the raided farm for a decade, picking tomatoes, and was fleeing agents when he fell 30 feet from a roof.

Held for hours. According to UFW, many workers, including U.S. citizens, were held by federal authorities at the farms for eight hours or more and some reported that they were forced to delete photos and videos of the raid from their phones.

The deceased worker’s family posted on social media that his “death is not an isolated tragedy” but was the result of a “targeted raid” in which “[w]orkers were met not with protection, but with chaos and fear,” leading to detention, trauma, and, in the case of their loved one, the loss of a life.

Federal agents “instill[ing] fear.” The raids occurred just one day before a federal district court in that state granted a temporary restraining order blocking ICE and Customs and Border Protection from engaging in unconstitutional and unlawful stops of Los Angeles residents during Immigration sweeps. Regarding that decision, California’s Attorney General Rob Bonta stated, “The Trump Administration is using federal immigration agents as a tool to instill fear and division in Los Angeles communities. In doing so, it is damaging community trust with law enforcement, disrupting Angelenos’ daily lives, and impeding public safety.”

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