www.montereycountynow.com JULY 24-30, 2025 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 15 It’s a big deal when a multi-agency group of law enforcement officers serves a warrant on a cannabis farm, complete with a helicopter and drones, in the middle of working farmland. There’s no way people won’t notice a major police operation is going down. That’s what happened on Wednesday morning, July 16, when the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department served a search warrant on a cannabis farm in Pajaro. Public Information Officer Mara Rodriguez declines to release much information, as the investigation is pending, but says it is connected to a case in San Bernardino County, and that several thousand pounds of processed cannabis were seized and destroyed by the agency. Rodriguez says the search warrant, signed by a San Bernardino County Superior Court judge, was based on suspected illicit marijuana cultivation, including the use of pesticides that are illegal in the U.S., among them fumigants from China. The California Department of Cannabis Control joined the operation and has seized and embargoed thousands more pounds of cannabis, pending the investigation. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife was involved as well. More information is likely to be released in the coming days from the agencies involved. But in the early morning hours that the local investigation was underway, as my colleagues Erik Chalhoub and Celia Jiménez have reported (see more, p. 12), the fear of who might be there caused more than a stir. Volunteer groups of legal observers who monitor activity by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrived at the scene. They found a major law enforcement operation investigating alleged violations of the California penal code, but no ICE raid. But the tangible fear that any sign of law enforcement activity—a van, a helicopter, an officer wearing a bulky bullet-proof vest—might be la migra is permeating the community. Some of it unfolds on social media, where posts about suspected ICE activity followed by debunking (or, occasionally, confirmation) abound. Some of it unfolds in the fields, where some crewmembers left jobs early that day. Some of it unfolds privately in people’s minds and hearts, as they wrestle with what is and is not safe. This would seem to be part of the strategy that the Trump administration is deploying. Even if ICE cannot be everywhere at once, the fear that they might appear at any moment is changing people’s lives. This is true not just of immigrants whose status in this country is illegal, but of immigrants who do have legal status, even citizens. I hear repeatedly from friends and acquaintances about it. One, from Mexico, is considering moving back. Another, from Canada, felt flutters of fear while returning from a trip and passing through U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the airport. This is happening in what is supposed to be the freest nation on Earth. Of course, creating a climate of fear is part of the autocratic playbook. And of course it might motivate more people to “self-deport,” the Trump administration’s term of art for “flee from your own community and family and job because we don’t want you here.” The ICE website even offers this glossy guidance: “If you’re illegally present in the U.S., you don’t have to— and shouldn’t—wait for ICE officials to arrest you. Instead, you can leave on your own terms.” As if these are people’s own terms. On Thursday, July 17, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it had sent requests to sheriffs in “multiple major California counties” seeking to compel them to produce “lists of all inmates in their jails who are not citizens of the United States, their crimes of arrest or conviction, and their scheduled release dates.” Note that not citizens phrase, which includes many legally present immigrants—a wide net that can be interpreted to again refer to sowing fear. (Note as well that inmates in county jails include people who have not been convicted of any crime, but may be awaiting trial.) Officials at the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office say it does not appear Sheriff Tina Nieto received such a request from the DOJ. Even if she did not, the specter of ICE has already asserted itself. Sara Rubin is the Weekly’s editor. Reach her at sara@montereycountynow.com. Sowing Chaos Even when ICE isn’t in town, the fear that they might be unsettles people. By Sara Rubin TOUCH AND GO…Squid tries to abide by all the laws humans have created, even absurd ones. At least cephalopods don’t wear shoes, making that high heels permit requirement in Carmel irrelevant. When Squid visits friends in Los Angeles, Squid is sure not to hunt moths under streetlights, which remains illegal in that city. Squid perked up on July 16 when the Monterey Peninsula Airport District board considered repealing three ordinances—two passed in 1978, one in 1979—regulating airport hours, plane altitudes, touch-and-go landings and such. Thing is, the airport never enforced the ordinances, as they are preempted by the Federal Aviation Act, and attorney Scott Huber gave the board a presentation that concluded, “Each of the three ordinances are invalid, unconstitutional, and/or are ineffective. As your counsel, it is my recommendation that [they] be repealed for those reasons.” A few in the public chimed in, with one suggesting there should be an environmental review on the impact of repealing the ordinances. That was the whole point, Huber then told the board—repealing the ordinances will have no impact, because they’ve never been enforced. Next, the board spent more than an hour polishing the language of its now-official “Voluntary Fly Quiet Program,” a voluntary set of guidelines— not enforceable—that the airport encourages all non-airline pilots to adhere to. Only board member Jonathan Ahmadi voted against the adopted language, as he felt it reasonable to ask that flights be discouraged from 11pm-7am. The majority went with the hours of midnight-5am, thinking that would generate fewer complaints. Only time will tell. ROCK N’ RULE…Speaking of federal laws, members of the Ninth District Judicial Conference (federal courts in nine western states) are meeting at the Hyatt Regency in Monterey as Squid inks this column. Their conference started Monday, July 21 and ends on July 24. It’s the first time in 11 years it has been held in Monterey, and that means only some of the most influential decisionmakers of our time—Mary H. Murguia, Chief Judge of U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan among them— are in town this week. So too are members of the band The Recusals, “a unique rock band composed primarily of federal judges from the Northern District.” What? Federal judges rockin’ “I Fought The Law”? Squid’s colleague caught up with the conference organizers, eager to know more: When and where would The Recusals perform? Sadly, Squid’s colleague was informed, the band “will be playing a private event that is closed to the public and media.” Lame! Is that what the Deep State is? Squid would appeal the matter, but to who? THE LOCAL SPIN SQUID FRY THE MISSION OF MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY IS TO INSPIRE INDEPENDENT THINKING AND CONSCIOUS ACTION, ETC. This is supposed to be the freest nation on Earth. SEND SQUID A TIP: squid@montereycountynow.com
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