A farm worker has died after being injured during a raid by US immigration agents on a legal cannabis farm in California, his family said on Saturday.Raids on agricultural sites Thursday resulted in the arrests of 200 undocumented migrants, as part of US President Donald Trump’s wide-ranging anti-immigration crackdown, and clashes between law enforcement officials and protesters.The farm worker’s family had started a page on the fundraising platform GoFundMe to help support his relatives in Mexico. On Saturday, the page posted an update to say he had “passed away.”Trump campaigned for the presidency on a harsh anti-immigration platform, likening undocumented migrants to “animals” and “monsters,” and since taking office he has delivered on promises to conduct a massive deportation drive.On Friday, he called demonstrators involved in attacks on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents “slimeballs” and said they should be arrested.The chaotic raid on the cannabis plantation in Ventura County, about 56 miles (90 kilometers) from Los Angeles, saw the worker who later died being chased by ICE agents, his family said.”My uncle Jaime was just a hard-working, innocent farmer,” said a post on the GoFundMe page. “He was chased by ICE agents, and we were told he fell 30ft (9 meters).”The page described his injuries as “catastrophic.”Tricia McLaughlin, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokeswoman, said he was never in custody.”Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a green house and fell 30 feet,” McLaughlin said. “(Customs and Border Patrol) immediately called a medevac to the scene to get him care as quickly as possible.”DHS said 200 undocumented migrants were arrested during raids on marijuana growing sites in Carpinteria and Camarillo on Thursday and 10 children were rescued “from potential exploitation, forced labor, and human trafficking.”Glass House Brands, which owns the farms, said in a statement that it has “never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors.”DHS said more than 500 “rioters” had attempted to disrupt the operation and four US citizens are facing charges for assaulting or resisting officers.Tear gas was used against the protesters, some of whom were seen in television footage throwing projectiles at law enforcement vehicles. The department said immigration agency vehicles were damaged and a $50,000 reward was being offered for the arrest of an individual who allegedly fired a gun at law enforcement officers.- American dream ‘no longer’ -In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said he had watched footage of “thugs” throwing rocks and bricks at ICE vehicles, causing “tremendous damage.”Trump said he was authorizing law enforcement officers who are “on the receiving end of thrown rocks, bricks, or any other form of assault, to stop their car, and arrest these SLIMEBALLS, using whatever means is necessary to do so.””I am giving Total Authorization for ICE to protect itself, just like they protect the Public,” he said.Trump has been involved in a showdown over immigration enforcement with Democratic-ruled California for weeks.The Republican president sent thousands of National Guard troops to Los Angeles last month to quell protests against round-ups of undocumented migrants by federal agents.California Governor Gavin Newsom has said the troops were not necessary to address the mostly peaceful protests, but his legal efforts to have them removed have failed so far.The cannabis farm in Camarillo was calm during a visit by an AFP reporter on Friday, as workers waited in line to collect their belongings and paychecks.”We’ve been here since six this morning asking questions but they’re not giving us any information,” said Saul Munoz, a 43-year-old Colombian whose son was detained on Thursday.”I just want to know how he’s doing,” Munoz said. “Bring him back to me and if it’s time for us to leave, we’ll leave.”The truth is the American dream is no longer really the American dream.”

President Donald Trump set out early in his second term to fulfill a decades-long desire of reshaping US trade with the world, but the main outcomes so far have been discord and uncertainty.The real estate tycoon, who has staked his reputation on being a consummate dealmaker, embarked on an aggressive strategy of punitive tariffs that his administration predicted could bring “90 deals in 90 days.”The score so far? Two. Three if you count a temporary de-escalation agreement with China.The 90-day deadline was due on July 9, with dozens of economies including the European Union, India and Japan facing tariff hikes without a deal.But days before it arrived, Trump issued a delay to August 1.It was his second extension since unveiling the tariffs in April — reigniting the “TACO Theory” that has gained traction among some Wall Street traders.The acronym coined by a Financial Times writer stands for “Trump Always Chickens Out,” highlighting the president’s inclination to roll back policies if markets turn sour.Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, part of Trump’s multi-leader trade team, has reportedly been a key advocate for the pauses.But the label has irked Trump and he insisted Tuesday that the deadline had always been in August.”I didn’t make a change. A clarification, maybe,” Trump said at a cabinet meeting.This week, he published more than 20 letters dictating tariff rates to world leaders including in Japan, South Korea and Indonesia.”We invite you to participate in the extraordinary Economy of the United States, the Number One Market in the World, by far,” Trump wrote.He also issued letters to the EU, Canada, Mexico and Brazil — although Brazil was not previously targeted by the steeper “reciprocal” tariffs and Canada and Mexico face a separate tariff regime.The documents “appear to be Trump’s way of combatting the TACO label,” said Inu Manak, a fellow for trade policy at the Council on Foreign Relations.”He wants to show that he’s not just kicking the can down the road on the deadline, but that he means business,” she told AFP.”He’s likely frustrated that there isn’t a parade of deals coming in.”- ‘Politically complicated’ -“The shift in his rhetoric from ‘there is no cost — the foreigners pay the tariffs’ to ‘there is a short term cost, but there will be a long term gain’ has put him in a more politically complicated position,” said William Reinsch, senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.Trump has repeatedly claimed that foreign countries foot the bill for tariffs, although the reality is more complicated with US companies generally paying them.”In the public’s mind, the tariffs are the pain, and the agreements will be the gain,” said Reinsch, a former US commerce official.He warned that without trade agreements, Americans could conclude Trump’s strategy was flawed and deem his tactics a failure.While the 90-deal goal was probably unrealistic, Reinsch said, “it’s clear that three (UK, China, Vietnam) with only one actual text made public (UK) is too small.”- Deflecting attention -Meanwhile, Trump has announced a 50 percent levy on copper imports starting August 1.Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said officials would also conclude investigations into semiconductors and pharmaceuticals — which could lead to tariffs — at month-end.”That timing is not coincidental — it lines up with the new deadline of August 1, adding more pressure and deflecting attention from any lack of deals that get made in that time frame,” Manak said.Analysts believe Trump’s supporters will likely not pay much attention to trade talks unless the tariffs fuel inflation.”Trade policy is not top-of-mind for the average voter,” said Emily Benson, head of strategy at Minerva Technology Futures.She expects the Trump administration’s focus on boosting US manufacturing and reinvigorating the defense industrial base means it could be willing to bear some political heat to achieve those objectives.But it’s a delicate balance.Voters will likely pay more attention if Trump follows through on his August tariff threats, Manak said.”And we could see a negative market reaction as well, which would not go unnoticed.”

Workmen plant electricity poles in the rust-orange earth of the Navajo Nation and run cables to Christine Shorty’s house — finally giving her power against the searing Arizona desert heat. It will be a luxury in the vast Native American reservation, the largest in the United States, where more than 10,000 families are still without electricity and therefore air conditioning.”It’s climate change. It’s getting hotter,” Shorty tells AFP. “This would be easier for us with the fan and maybe air conditioning. And we look forward to that.”In her 70 years, Shorty has seen her isolated, tiny hamlet of Tonalea, a dot in the enormous area of the reservation, change dramatically.Summer monsoon rains are rarer, and temperatures can touch 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius) in July and August — previously unthinkable in the hamlet, located on a plateau at an altitude of 5,700 feet (1,730 meters).The area’s seasonal lakes are drying up, and in some years the livestock are dying of thirst. Like many others, Shorty has a generator and small solar panels that allow her to power a gas fridge, cook and watch television. But their power is limited, and she often has to choose which appliance to plug in. Being hooked up to the electrical grid is “a big change. It’s going to make my life a lot easier,” she tells AFP.- ‘Survival mode’ -Most of the United States was electrified in the 1930s under president Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal initiatives. But in the Navajo Nation, which stretches across Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, the first efforts only began in the 1960s, and there are still not enough power lines. “This area was looked over,” says Deenise Becenti of the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority (NTUA), the agency that manages the reservation’s infrastructure. “That surprises many people. They’re saying, you know, why are there third world conditions that exist here in the United States, the greatest country in the world?”To catch up, the semi-autonomous government of the reservation launched the “Light Up Navajo” project in 2019. The humanitarian initiative sees electricity companies from all over the country send their employees to work in the reservation for around a dozen weeks a year.Since 2019, electricity has been supplied to 5,000 families in the reservation, including 1,000 thanks to “Light Up Navajo,” Becenti said.  But as climate change drives temperatures higher, families still without power in the reservation — where many live below the poverty rate and unemployment is high — are in “survival mode,” she said. – ‘Angry’ -Elbert Yazzie’s mobile home turns into a furnace in the summer, and he has already lost one member of his extended family to heat stroke.”I used to like the heat,” the 54-year-old, who lives in nearby Tuba City, tells AFP.”But when you get older I guess your body can’t take it no more.”His home was finally connected to electricity just weeks ago.Since then, he has rigged up an evaporative air cooler, also known as a “swamp cooler,” by salvaging three broken appliances from a garbage dump.”Now we can turn on the A/C anytime we want, so we don’t have to worry about the heat, and the generator and the gas, and all that stuff,” he says.”Now we don’t have to go to (other) people’s houses to cool down, we can just stay home, relax, watch TV, things like that.” He and Shorty are the fortunate ones. Without more funding, connecting the remaining 10,000 Navajo families without electricity could take another two decades, Becenti says.That is far too long for Gilberta Cortes, who no longer dares let her children play outside in the summer, for fear of getting heat-exacerbated nosebleeds. An electricity pole has just been erected in front of the 42-year-old’s house and a line is due to be extended to her in a few months’ time. But she has endured too much false hope to be serene. “My mom and dad were in their 20s, they were promised power,” but it never materialized, she says.”I’m still angry.”