Journalist sues ICE for records about deadly immigration raid at California cannabis farm

Reporters Committee attorneys are representing independent journalist Jackie Botts in a new Freedom of Information Act lawsuit seeking access to records that could help shine a light on a deadly immigration raid at a California cannabis farm last year. 

In a complaint filed on Thursday in federal district court, Reporters Committee attorneys argue that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and 10 other federal agencies violated FOIA by failing to provide Botts with records she requested about the raid at Glass House Farms, which resulted in hundreds of arrests and the death of a 56-year-old farm worker. 

Botts’s requests sought a range of records, including warrants, police body-worn camera footage, and use-of-force reports. As Botts reported for The Guardian in August, “the Glass House raids epitomized the high-profile, violent tactics that defined the first year of Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign.”

“Getting these records is crucial to understanding how these massive, militarized — and ultimately deadly — immigration raids unfolded and why so many details of the event remain shielded from public view,” Botts said. “The public — and the families ripped apart by the raids —  deserve to know.”

The lawsuit is the Reporters Committee’s latest effort to help the public better understand the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration crackdown across the United States. 

Last year, Reporters Committee published a new guide, available in English and Spanish, to help journalists understand legal issues they may encounter while reporting on immigration enforcement and deportation. Reporters Committee attorneys have represented journalists in lawsuits against state and federal governments to obtain immigration enforcement records, fought to lift access restrictions related to immigration proceedings, and advocated for press rights during immigration-related coverage. 

Last month alone, for example, Reporters Committee attorneys filed two new lawsuits on behalf of news outlets in Pennsylvania and Louisiana challenging secrecy surrounding how state governments are working with federal immigration enforcement agencies. Reporters Committee attorneys representing Oklahoma newsrooms filed a similar lawsuit in that state in May. 

And in February, a FOIA lawsuit that Reporters Committee attorneys brought on behalf of The Guardian shook loose data that revealed the vast majority of people who were targeted for deportation for the first time in 2025 had no criminal history. 

“The public has a right to know how its government is carrying out an unprecedented immigration enforcement campaign,” said Reporters Committee Staff Attorney Gunita Singh. “Too often, journalists covering these enforcement actions and its impact on their communities face legal obstacles designed to keep the public in the dark. We’re committed to helping shine a light.”