An independent journalist has filed a federal lawsuit seeking records from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and eight other federal agencies concerning last year’s deadly immigration raids at Glass House Farms cannabis facilities in California.
Jacqueline Botts filed the Freedom of Information Act lawsuit September 3 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The case, Botts v. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement et al., is docketed as 1:26-cv-03086.
The raids occurred July 10, 2025, at Glass House Farms locations in Camarillo and Carpinteria. Hundreds of people were arrested, and 56-year-old farm worker Jaime Alanis Garcia died in connection with the operation, according to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, which is representing Botts.
Botts submitted records requests to the agencies between April 14 and May 4. The requests seek a broad range of material related to the raids, including search warrants, inventories of seized property, body-camera footage, vehicle and aerial surveillance recordings, use-of-force reports and records identifying the number of federal agents involved.
She is also seeking records concerning Garcia and his death, including internal investigations, medical reports, witness or officer testimony and communications. Other requested material includes information about firearms, munitions and less-lethal devices used or present during the raids, along with records concerning vehicles, aircraft and drones.
The DEA request additionally seeks records concerning any DEA investigations or inspections of Glass House Farms operations dating back to 2015. The agency denied the request in April, saying the records sought would most likely be maintained by ICE. Botts appealed that decision in May, but the complaint says she had received no further response as of September 3.
The FBI separately told Botts it was unable to identify responsive records. Her administrative appeal of that determination was denied in May. ICE denied her request under a Freedom of Information Act exemption concerning law-enforcement records, with an administrative appeal denied August 31.
The lawsuit alleges the agencies violated federal open-records law by failing to conduct adequate searches, missing statutory deadlines and improperly withholding records. According to the complaint, ICE, Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Marshals Service, FBI, DEA and several other defendants had not released any responsive records as of the lawsuit’s filing.
