00:00Get this, a man's on his way to work when he drives up to the scene and there's chaos and there's protests and an ice raid on a California cannabis farm.
00:08That's when things went wrong for U.S. citizen and Army veteran George Redes Jr.
00:14George works as a security guard at the Glass House Farms in Camarillo and you can see his white car right here being blocked by a wall of agents.
00:24He exited his car and tried to tell the officers he was going to work legally as a citizen.
00:34Agents then surrounded his car, banging on his windows.
00:38George, he tried to back away from the agents but was pepper sprayed.
00:42His car engulfed.
00:45He says when he then was pinned down by two officers and then arrested,
00:49George was held for three days at the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles.
00:57No charges were filed.
00:59He had no access to an attorney and he missed his three-year-old daughter's birthday.
01:05The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement,
01:09George Redes was arrested and he has been released.
01:12He has not been charged.
01:13The U.S. Attorney's Office is reviewing his case along with dozens of others for potential federal charges
01:19related to the execution of the federal search warrant in Camarillo.
01:23George Redes Jr. joins me now.
01:27George, thank you for being here.
01:28When I saw this story, I mean, it's hard to believe what you experienced
01:31because when you pulled up and you saw the chaos, what did you think was going on?
01:37George Redes Jr. Um, I kind of, I kind of put two and two together that, um, a protest was happening.
01:47I mean, the street was completely filled with people, uh, it was a logjam.
01:52Um, cars lined up, people getting out their cars and, um, and it was just a big crowd.
01:59So I kind of figured what was going on when I pulled up and saw it.
02:02But as you're pulling up, I mean, you're a citizen, you're a veteran, you weren't a part of the protest,
02:09you were trying to go to work.
02:10Did you tell the ICE officers all this when you spoke to them?
02:14It was the first thing I said when I pulled up to them and asked them and told them everything.
02:20I told them I was a U.S. citizen, that I worked there, um, that I was trying to get at work.
02:26Um, I mentioned that I was a veteran.
02:28I, I told them all those things.
02:30I wasn't part of the protest.
02:31I'm not there to fight them.
02:31Um, I'm just trying to get to work.
02:33What'd they say?
02:36Uh, they didn't care.
02:37Uh, they all just started yelling at me, um, and started getting hostile.
02:42Um, they just started getting hostile.
02:46We see, as in the video, what's going on in the car engulfed and you were pepper sprayed.
02:51You were also held for three days.
02:53There were no charges filed.
02:55You didn't have access to an attorney where you were held.
02:58What, what were you told during those three days about why you were there and how long you might have to be there?
03:07Um, I was told nothing.
03:10Not a single thing.
03:11Um.
03:11Could you call somebody?
03:14Could you talk to anyone?
03:17No, uh, they didn't let me call anyone.
03:19Um, they didn't let me talk to a lawyer.
03:22They didn't even let me shower.
03:24When I was covered in tear gas and CO spray and my body was burning.
03:28That's unbelievable to think that you were denied those things.
03:33I mean, you have said that you were put on suicide watch.
03:38Can you tell us more about that?
03:39Yes.
03:41Um.
03:42Um, uh, just dealing with that entire situation, um, and what had happened, uh, what had happened
03:50with, uh, that entire incident that day.
03:53Um, and then, um, on top of all that, um, just knowing that I would miss my daughter's
04:01birthday, um, that was the big, that was the biggest one for me.
04:06Um, it's, it's hard if I'm being honest, um, just knowing that I will never get that chance
04:14to, uh, to know that I was, I wasn't there.
04:19I didn't even be, wasn't able to get her a gift.
04:22So it's, it's a terrible feeling.
04:25Of course.
04:26I can only imagine, I mean, what you were thinking at that time.
04:30And you are a father of two young kids.
04:32Your daughter was turning three while you were detained.
04:34But George, I keep going back to not only being a father and, of course, a human being.
04:40You are a veteran who served this country.
04:43When you look and reflect on how you were treated in that moment or what's happened just a week
04:47later, how are you feeling?
04:52Um.
04:55I'm feeling, um.
04:58Um, um, every feeling in the book, um, it just, I just can't wrap my head around it.
05:10Um, I still can't wrap my head around it.
05:13Um, I missed a lot, uh, I missed a lot when, uh, they locked me up and it was just a lot
05:22to, uh, deal with and a lot that happened.
05:25Um, I just can't wrap my head around it.
05:27If I'm being honest with you.
05:29Did you expect when you said you were a veteran to have been treated differently by the officers?
05:34Um, no, um, it shouldn't matter if I'm a veteran, um, it shouldn't matter if I was a citizen or
05:42not, or the color of my skin.
05:44Um, no one should be treated that way at all, especially without questioning or just for
05:50no reason at all.
05:51Um, just because their, their emotions got the best of them.
05:56No one should be treated that way.
05:58George Redis, thank you for joining and sharing what has happened.
06:02I'm sorry that you have lost what you have.
06:05It's really shocking to all of us.
06:09Yeah.
