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FIRST ON FOX: The President of Glass House Farms, the cannabis farm that federal immigration authorities raided in California on Thursday despite protests, has donated thousands to Democrats in California.
Co-founder, president, and board director Graham Farrar, who self-identifies on social media as residing in Santa Barbara, California, has made numerous political donations to the Santa Barbara County Democratic Central Committee’s federal political action committee and Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Calif., according to Federal Election Commission records.
According to California public campaign finance records, he also donated $10,000 to California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2018, and his most recent public political donation was to California Democratic Assemblymember Gregg Hart in July 2023.
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Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott tweeted that the farm is “now under investigation for child labor violations” and the Department of Homeland Security told Fox News on Friday that nine unaccompanied children in the U.S. illegally were rescued.
“So glad our law enforcement could rescue another child,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stated.
Glass House Brands said in a statement that they complied with the federal warrants issued.
“Yesterday, Glass House Brands received immigration and naturalization warrants. As per the law, we verified that the warrants were valid and we complied. Workers were detained and we are assisting to provide them legal representation,” the company tweeted.
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“Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors. We do not expect this to affect operations moving forward. We will provide additional details when applicable.”
“Know there are lots of questions, we have a lot of them too, as we get more information we will update. Our team has been continually on site and we are focused on taking care of our people and our plants,” Farrar posted to X.
Farrar’s X feed also shows him retweeting Republicans, such as former Rep. Matt Gaetz, in support of cannabis policy reforms.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE
In response to being asked about the campaign donations, Newsom’s senior political advisor Lindsey Cobia, who was the deputy campaign manager when Newsom received the $10,000 donation, told Fox News Digital in a statement, “It’s rich for Fox News and Trump Admin to point to campaign donations to Democrats, when in fact, the CEO is a Trump supporter who donated to the Governor’s recall and has given to more Republicans than Democrats.” Newsom posted the same message on X and included an Instagram photo of Kyle Kazan and Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C.
The Newsom post omitted another Instagram photo Kazan took with Rep. Robert Garcia, a Democratic California congressman that Kazan donated thousands of dollars to. Earlier this year, Garcia told CNN that it was time to “bring actual weapons” to fight the Trump admininistration and has been a vocal critic of Republicans.
Newsom’s rapid response team referenced a Los Angeles Times report in which Kyle Kazan is noted as a supporter of President Donald Trump. He is labeled as a supporter of the president in a comment from Marc Cohodes, who invested in the company and disagreed with the raid.
On a donation level, a review of public records found that Kazan has donated to various Democrats in recent years. The most notable recent Republican donation under the name Kyle Kazan was to former gubernatorial candidate Kevin Faulconer in 2021 for $10,000. He also recently made at least $12,500 in business contributions through Glass House Brands to ActBlue California as recently as June 2024. Fox News Digital’s review of state and federal election records found no Kazan donations to Trump’s presidential campaigns.
On Thursday, protesters clashed with federal authorities in Camarillo during an immigration operation. Federal authorities had a warrant for illegal employees, Fox News has learned. Another raid also occurred at another Glass House Farm in Carpinteria.
In addition, U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli said the FBI has offered a $50,000 award for information leading to the conviction of an unknown suspect who appeared to fire a pistol at federal law enforcement officers near Camarillo.
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People were seen confronting the agents, who used tear gas and smoke bombs. Federal personnel used gas to push back protesters who arrived on the scene after getting word of a raid.
Military helicopters were also seen flying low over the fields, a maneuver generally used to flush out people hiding.
“It is becoming increasingly apparent that the actions taken by ICE are bold and aggressive, demonstrating insensitivity towards the direct impact on our community,” Luis Mc Arthur, the mayor of nearby Oxnard, said in a social media post. “These actions are causing unnecessary distress and harm. I remain committed to working alongside our Attorney General and the Governor’s office to explore potential legal avenues to address these activities.”
When the governor was asked his thoughts on the footage of somebody firing a gun at federal authorities by right-wing social media account Libs of TikTok, Newsom replied “Of course I condemn any assault on law enforcement, you sh* poster. Now do Jan 6.”
“California prosecutes child exploiters and traffickers. Trump tear-gasses children, rips them from their parents, and deports farmworkers. Priorities,” Newsom tweeted in response to Scott’s post about the child labor allegations against the farm.
Fox News reached out to Glass House.
Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano and Landon Mion contributed to this report.
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