Today’s Deep Media Question: Does ICE ‘Kidnap’ Protesters?

Today’s deep answer: Of course not. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detains and arrests people, including those obstructing their legitimate enforcement actions. Neither the media nor the administration at a California state college can tell the difference, apparently.

Southern California TV station KTLA reported on the objections raised after the arrest of a Cal State Channel Islands instructor at a violent attempt to impede ICE’s raid of the Glass House Farms marijuana facility. KTLA reports that Jonathan Anthony Caravello was “detained,” while the California Faculty Association claimed he’d been “kidnapped”:

California State University Channel Islands is calling for the immediate release of one of their professors who was detained during a protest on Thursday.

The demonstration sprung up while federal officials conducted a raid at a Glass House Farms marijuana grow facility in Camarillo, not far from the CSUCI campus.  

At some point during the protest – which saw tear gas being deployed and dozens being handcuffed – Professor Jonathan Anthony Caravello was detained and taken from the scene.  

According to a social media post published Friday by the California Faculty Association, Professor Caravello was “kidnapped” by federal agents who didn’t provide any information to demonstrators.

It’s difficult to put into words how idiotic this excerpt is. Caravello was more than “detained”; he was arrested because he attacked ICE agents during the raid. US Attorney Bill Essayli made that clear later in the day, which one only finds out in the second-to-last paragraph of KTLA’s report. Essayli responded on Twitter:

Professor Jonathan Caravello was not “kidnapped” by federal agents. He was arrested for throwing a tear gas canister at law enforcement. He is charged with a violation of 18 USC 111 and will have a court appearance tomorrow. https://t.co/QrIivjrthd

— U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli (@USAttyEssayli) July 13, 2025

For those who aren’t aware, interfering with law enforcement in nearly any way can be charged as a felony. That can be as simple as attempting to distract officers making arrests or conducting investigations. The statute in this case, 18 USC 111, is a far more serious charge because of the violence allegedly directed at ICE agents by Caravello. The base charge carries a maximum penalty of eight years in federal prison, but note well the “enhanced penalty” clause, emphasis mine:

(b)Enhanced Penalty.—

Whoever, in the commission of any acts described in subsection (a), uses a deadly or dangerous weapon (including a weapon intended to cause death or danger but that fails to do so by reason of a defective component) or inflicts bodily injury, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.

Does tossing a tear-gas canister at ICE agents count as a “dangerous weapon”? YMMV, but I’d bet Essayli charges it as such to at least get the “enhanced penalty” on the table. Caravello won’t get a 20-year sentence, and likely not an eight-year sentence either as a (presumably) first offender, but he’d get some prison time if convicted. 

Get ready for even more stupidity about free speech and “authoritarianism,” but violent obstruction is not free speech. Americans have the right to protest government at all levels and all of its aspects, but only within lawful bounds. Those bounds do not include impeding law enforcement, and especially doesn’t include violent attacks on law enforcement. Even outside of a political demonstration, those acts will land people in jail and prison. Despite what the Left keeps claiming, violence and rioting are not “speech” and are actionable at all times, even though the previous administration rarely took action at all … except with the January 6 protesters/rioters. 

As a Cal State alum, it’s pretty disappointing to find out that the faculty association can’t make that distinction. Or doesn’t want to. Both options are pretty depressing. 

And let’s not forget why ICE showed up at the Glass House Farms operation in the first place. They found hundreds of illegal aliens violating the law by working at the farm, which they clearly anticipated when they got the criminal warrant for the raid. They also discovered at least 14 minors working the farm, which strongly suggests that they had been trafficked for labor purposes. But that’s not all ICE and Customs and Border Patrol found:

ICE and CBP arrested violent and dangerous criminal illegal aliens during the operation who were working at the marijuana site, including:

• Roman Izquierdo—an illegal alien from Mexico—who has been convicted of kidnapping, attempted rape and attempted child molestation. ICE previously deported him in 2006.
• Juan Duarte-Velasquez—an illegal alien from Mexico—who has been convicted of rape and a DUI.
• Jose Orellana—an illegal alien from El Salvador—who has been convicted of a DUI and a hit-and-run with property damage.
• Adriana Gonzalez-Gonzalez—an illegal alien from Mexico—who has been convicted three times for burglary and a DUI.

So Caravello was attacking law enforcement to protect child-labor trafficking, a couple of rapists, two drunk drivers and one of those also a thief, as well as a child molester. Oh, and just to put the cherry on top of the media/Left hyperbole, the child molester actually did kidnap someone and got convicted for it.  

When will KTLA report that? And when will the Cal State faculty start showing some concern about the kidnappers, rapists, and child molesters that ICE is trying to arrest and prosecute? 

Editor’s Note: The Protection Racket Media, Democrat politicians, and their radical supporters will do everything they can to interfere with and threaten ICE agents enforcing our immigration laws.

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