While fun was had at the 68th annual three-day St. Joseph Church Festival in Carpinteria last weekend, festival organizers said attendance dipped roughly 20% compared to previous years, likely due to fear about immigration enforcement.
At least a dozen Carpinterian residents were arrested last week by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents: two at the parking lot of Carpinteria’s Smart & Final on July 7, one in a residential neighborhood near El Carro Park on July 8, and at least 10 reportedly undocumented farmworkers in a July 10 Homeland Security raid on Glass House Farms, a cannabis operation on Casitas Pass Road.
The latter incident has since drawn national attention, paired with a concurrent raid at Glass House Farm’s Camarillo cannabis farm. At least two undocumented farmworkers picked up in the Carpinteria Glass House raid have since been deported, according to GoFundMe fundraisers launched by their families and friends…