U.S. Army Veteran and Citizen Wrongfully Detained in ICE Raid

George Retes, a 25-year-old U.S. Army veteran and citizen, was wrongfully

detained for three days by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a chaotic immigration raid at a Southern California farm last week. 

Retes served four years in the Army, including a deployment to Iraq in 2019. Retes explains his reasoning to join the force: “I joined the service to help better myself. I did it because I love this [expletive] country.”

After serving in the Army, Retes decided to work as a security guard at Glass House Farms in Camarillo, where federal agents surrounded his car. Despite identifying himself as a U.S. citizen, agents reportedly broke his car window, deployed tear gas and pepper spray, and forcibly removed him from his vehicle.

"It took two officers to nail my back and then one on my neck to arrest me even though my hands were already behind my back," Retes recounted. He stated that he was never informed of the reason for his arrest nor allowed to contact a lawyer or his family during his three-day detention. He was also placed on suicide watch due to emotional distress, especially after missing his 3-year-old daughter's birthday.

"They never told me why I was arrested," Retes stated in an interview. "They gave me nothing I could wrap my head around."

His sister, Destinee Magaña, told the media that Retes was simply trying to drive away from the scene “It clearly says in the back of his car that he's a disabled veteran. This is how you're going to treat U.S. citizens?"

"This doesn't just affect one person," Retes said. "It doesn't matter if your skin is brown. It doesn't matter if you're white. It doesn't matter if you're a veteran or you serve this country. They don't care. They're just there to fill a quota."