California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been on the opposite end of many Trump administration policies, from combating illegal immigration to his economic agenda.
He most recently evoked support for businesses, possibly including marijuana growers, earlier this month when federal agents arrested dozens of illegal immigrants, some of whom were minors working alongside other migrants with convictions for murder, burglary, kidnapping and rape.
Glass House Farms is not under investigation following raids at sites in Camarillo and Carpinteria. Of the 361 illegal immigrants arrested at both locations on July 10, at least 14 were minors who were rescued from potential exploitation, forced labor, and human trafficking, the Department of Homeland Security said.
On July 1, the California excise tax on marijuana jumped from 15% to 19%. In January, Newsom’s office said he would endorse halting the cannabis excise tax increase if a proposal ever ended up on his desk.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom criticized a Trump administration raid in which U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested illegal immigrants at Glass House Farms in Camarillo in July. (Getty Images)
Amy O’Gorman Jenkins, the executive director of the California Cannabis Operators Association, said the legal cannabis industry in California is subjected to an array of taxes, noting that no other age-restricted product in the state is taxed at the same rate, including alcohol and tobacco.
“There continues to be this misunderstanding that the cannabis industry is this cash cow,” she told Fox News Digital, noting that consumers will purchase illegal cannabis rather than products from the overtaxed and over-regulated local market. “That fact of the matter is we have a very significant illicit market that’s well documented in California.
In addition, drug cartels have set up marijuana-growing operations in parts of the state. In a portion of California’s Mendocino County, drug cartels have spent significant amounts of money to establish pot farms there, Mendocino County Sheriff Matthew Kendall previously told Fox News Digital.
Earlier this month, seven Chinese citizens were charged in connection with a multimillion-dollar drug-trafficking organization that allegedly grew and distributed marijuana across the U.S. Northeast. In 2020, seven Laotian workers were killed at an illegal marijuana farm in Southern California.
“We have not reduced the illicit market. We haven’t even made a dent,” O’Gorman Jenkins said. “In large part due to the facts that consumers don’t want to pay this much in taxes when they can order products online and go into illegal shops and spend half the price.”
National Guard soldiers block protesters during an ICE immigration raid at a nearby cannabis farm on July 10, 2025, near Camarillo, California. Protesters stood off with federal agents for hours outside the farm in the farmworker community in Ventura County. (Getty Images/Mario Tama)
Shortly after the pot farm raids in California, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond called out Newsom over his stance on illegal immigration, particularly on cannabis farms.
“Gavin Newsom may protect illegal activity at marijuana farms around California, but Oklahoma will not,” Drummond wrote on Facebook. “That’s why my office is defending a state law to increase enforcement at these locations to protect innocent people and unsuspecting communities. We will not be deterred by activists attempting to shield dangerous operators and cartels.”
Following the raids on the two California cannabis farms, it was revealed that Farrar has donated thousands of dollars to California Democrats, including a $10,000 contribution to Newsom in 2018, according to California public campaign finance records.
He also made donations to Santa Barbara County Democratic Central Committee’s federal political action committee and Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Calif., according to Federal Election Commission records.
Farrar did not respond to a request for comment.
