Glass House Brands issues press statement regarding federal raids at grow locations in July
CENTRAL COAST REGION, Calif. – On Monday, cannabis company Glass House Brands Inc. issued a statement regarding federal law enforcement raids at their properties on July 10, 2025, that resulted in the death of one man and the detention of over 360 people including 14 children.
According to Monday's post from Glass House Brands, federal law enforcement personnel were serving a search warrant for possible immigration violations under the authority of Title 8 of the U.S. Code and nine of the cannabis grower's employees were detained or arrested in connection.
While nine direct employees of the company were taken into federal custody on July 10, Glass House explained Monday that the hundreds of other people detained that day were employees of third-party contractors including George Retes, a U.S. citizen detained for three days after the raid, and Jaime Alanis Garcia, a man who fell to his death during the federal law enforcement action.
Glass House Brands stated that contracted employees are required to be 21 or older and have valid work authorization while explaining that none of the minors detained were employees of their company.
If those children were employees of a third-party contractor was not made immediately clear in Monday's statement from Glass House Brands and Your News Channel is awaiting a response from the cannabis company regarding that information as well as other questions including the nature of the warrant authorizing the raids and status of detained employees.
The company's response will be included in this article when it is received.
Your News Channel has also reached out to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security repeatedly since the July 10 raids about the physical and legal status of all of those detained, the nature of the investigation into Glass House Brands, and claims made in later press releases and social media posts from the federal agency.
Its response will also be added to this article when it is received.
"To the Company’s knowledge, none of the individuals working at the Company’s facilities on July 10, 2025 were paid less than either the federal or California minimum wage," stated Glass House Brands Inc. "For the first six months of 2025, labor contractors were paid an average net (of fees paid to the Farm Labor Companies) hourly rate of approximately $18.60 per hour. The net hourly rate was more than 12% higher than California’s minimum wage requirement (one of the highest of any state in the country) and 2.2x higher than the federal minimum wage."
Monday's press release explained that the company has made some changes including cancelling its relationship with two farm labor contractors, revised its agreement with current third-party labor contractors, hired immigration law compliance consultants, and enhanced age gating controls for anyone entering their grow locations.
Additionally, Glass House Brands shared that they have signed a labor peace agreement with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, allowing the the labor organization to represent employees of the cannabis company.
Your News Channel has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security, Glass House Brands, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters for more information and their respective responses will be added to this article when they are received.
