Whistleblower behind East Valley DEA raid speaks out
Athena Jreij
MECCA, Calif. (KESQ) — The woman who says she notified authorities about multiple illegal growing farms, leading to a raid and the arrest of 70 undocumented workers, is now speaking out.
Perla Verduzco says the three farms targeted in Thermal and Mecca earlier this week were hotbeds for human trafficking and illegal growing.
“It’s owned by a Chinese guy that pays bail bonds or brings them illegally from China, and he puts them to work in the marijuana cultivation.”
Verduzco says many of those detained are her own neighbors who she witnessed by abused by farm leaders for years.
“The manager from the resort, he likes to take advantage of his people like he yells at them. He treats them really bad and they let him treat them however he wants because he tells them that he’s going to call immigration on them, or that he’s going to kick them out,” she said.
She also claims the investigation into the farms was ongoing for years, and that she reported the working conditions after a manager at her mobile home park called immigration enforcement on her husband. Verduzco added those leaders put pressure on her to move out of the park.
While officials have stood by the response, some community leaders have questioned if the use of militarized personnel was too extreme.
Coachella Mayor Steven Hernandez has been outspoken against recent immigration raids in the valley.
“We’ve seen marijuana raids happen throughout the Coachella Valley, but I’ve never seen a 500-person crew go into a marijuana field, and do such an operation,” Hernandez said.
Authorities have been clear it was a DEA operation, but immigration enforcement was called to detain those without proper documentation.
Still, ICE or not, Hernandez says the fear it’s instilled in the community is the same.
“The goal was to create a presence and create fear and, I think mission accomplished on their end.”