Children Left Alone After Mothers Arrested in Immigration Raids
A 15-year-old boy named Juan Martinez was left to care for his two young siblings, ages 8 and 9, after his mother — an undocumented worker with no criminal record who had lived in California for 16 years — was arrested in an ICE raid on Glass House Farms cannabis properties in Carpinteria and Camarillo. Martinez received a panicked voice message from his mother saying she was in a van headed to Los Angeles, then heard nothing more, leaving him anxious, helpless, and unsure what to tell his younger brothers. A 16-year-old named Alexa faced a similar situation when her mother, who is three months pregnant, was swept up in the same raid and had a chemical substance spilled on her leg during the arrest — she was later released after being hospitalized, but the family fears agents will return. Their attorney described the raids as a dramatic departure from previous administrations, which typically used discretion to avoid detaining parents of young children, saying she had never before received a call about "a mother being abducted while working."