Catching up with George Retes, the Ventura veteran pursuing a lawsuit against the U.S. Government
Retes, a U.S. citizen and an Army veteran, was detained by federal immigration agents for three days in July. He was never charged with a crime.
Greetings readers. Before we kick off today, I want to express my alarm at our federal government’s overt authoritarianism, violence, and its disregard for our Constitution, human rights, and basic facts. I recently wrote a letter to the editor of the Ojai Valley News on this topic. If you value democracy, if you value the rule of law, if you believe in the equality of all people, I believe it’s time to stand up and say so.
Onward to today’s story, which is sadly relevant.
I had the opportunity to speak with Ventura veteran George Retes back in July, shortly after he was released from federal detention in Los Angeles.
Recall: Retes, then 25, encountered a federal immigration operation at his workplace on July 10th of last year. Retes, who was on his way to his security guard job at Glass House Farms’ Camarillo location, was stopped by masked federal agents who broke his car window. Retes was then pepper sprayed, pulled out of his car, thrown to the ground, detained, and released with no charges three days later.
His story has since been featured in the New York Times and myriad national publications.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) responded to the New York Times story 48 hours later, via press release.
This federal government press release continues by naming each of the men in the story, including Retes.
This official U.S. government statement conflicts with Retes’ account, helicopter footage of the incident, and the images below, by photojournalist Blake Fagan.
One detail that I keep fixating on is the bumper sticker on the left side of Retes’ rear window: “Iraq Combat Veteran.”
Fagan recalls the moment clearly — it was the first time he’d documented an ICE raid. “I think about it every day,” he told me.
Fagan had been on scene at Glass House for approximately 20 minutes when federal agents dispersed a round of tear gas, he said. Fagan turned around to shoot “into” the gas. That’s when he captured Retes being pulled out of his car by federal agents.
I recounted the DHS narrative to Fagan — that it was Retes who “became violent.”
“What I saw with my eyes [is that George] was at the front of the line in his car and he couldn’t back up or go forward. There were cars behind him and then there were feds in front of him. He was kind of just sitting in his car and they went up and opened the door and pulled him out,” Fagan said.
After spending three days in federal captivity in Los Angeles, Retes was released with no charges. He has since teamed up with the non-profit Institute for Justice, and has taken steps to sue the federal government under the Federal Tort Claims Act.
“I’m calling out the federal government not just for what they did to me, but for what they are doing to others. I’m continuing to fight for this country, now as a civilian,” Retes said in a press release.
He’s been on a journey ever since. In October, Retes traveled to Washington, D.C. for the first time. On December 9th, he returned to the Capitol to testify to his experience during a “bicameral public forum” hosted by Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Congressman Robert Garcia (D-CA).
Wait — what’s a bicameral public forum? Good question!
Bicameral refers to both chambers of Congress — the House and the Senate. Typically, congressional fact-finding missions are hosted by committees of appointed Republicans and Democrats. Each chamber of Congress has its own committees, and their fact-finding sessions are called “hearings.” Blumenthal and Garcia’s “forum” was not technically a “hearing” because there were no Republicans involved. This could also be referred to as a “shadow hearing.”
“Chances are very slight that we’ll have any Republicans here today,” Blumenthal commented as he kicked off the forum. “And I regret that fact. Really, sincerely, I regret that we will have only Democrats in this hearing because Republicans should be here to hold the administration accountable, just as we are doing.”
Next, Blumenthal asked Retes to share his story.
Retes was joined by four other U.S. citizens — Wilmer Chavarria, Dayanne Figueroa, Javier Ramirez, and Andrea Velez — who shared their experiences being detained, assaulted, and denied their constitutional rights by DHS agents. Readers can watch the full session here.
The same day, Blumenthal released a report called “Unchecked Authority: Examining the Trump Administration’s Extrajudicial Immigration Detentions of U.S. Citizens.” The report was authored by the minority staff of the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. What does that mean? Again, the majority members of that committee — the Republicans — did not participate.
“This report ought to shock America’s conscience,” Blumenthal commented.
“The Subcommittee’s findings add to a growing body of evidence that the Trump Administration is seeking to build a nationwide paramilitary force with vast resources that lawlessly detains citizens based on its own whims — an effort which has a number of unfortunate and obvious historical parallels.” — Unchecked Authority: Examining the Trump Administration’s Extrajudicial Immigration Detentions of U.S. Citizens
I had the opportunity to catch up with Retes in late December. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and readability. All brackets and parentheses were added in the editing process.
