Even by the standards of a drought-stricken California, the conditions on Mount Shasta Vista have become desperate.

As the state has experienced the hottest summer on record, farmers are increasingly watching their chickens and ducks die from dehydration and vegetables withering without irrigation. There is very little water to drink, and the family only takes a bath once a week. Others considered giving up their property altogether.

However, unlike other parts of the western United States, the extreme water scarcity that plagues this small corner of Northern California is not the result of reduced snow cover or lower reservoir levels. Rather, this is due to the concerted efforts of the government to "solve" a problem that has plagued Siskiyou County officials for years: the illegal large-scale cultivation of marijuana in a region mainly in Asia.

This spring, county regulators effectively banned the transportation of water into rural areas known for growing large numbers of potted plants, filthy living conditions, and large numbers of Hmong farmers.

This measure is just the latest attempt by local officials to close pot farms, and the authorities blamed it on a surge in violent crime and environmental degradation.

However, this time, as lava fires sweep across the countryside, the crackdown in Siskiyou County will erupt with violence and draw national attention to fierce conflicts involving race, water, and the legalization of marijuana. This will also cause federal court judges to publicly question the county’s motives for implementing such draconian measures because these measures are at a time of severe drought, record high temperatures and extreme wildfire risks.

"The dehydration and de facto expulsion of an unwelcome minority community cannot be the price to pay for preventing illegal marijuana cultivation and any attendant harm," wrote Kimberly J. Mueller, judge for the Eastern District of California.

The Mount Shasta Vista subarea was excavated from a slope formed by arid lava in Siskiyou County in the mid-1960s and provided few civilized comforts. Among other difficulties, volcanic rocks complicate the drilling of water wells and the installation of septic tanks. The maze of dusty private roads has not been maintained or improved by the government.

Margiana Petersen-Rockney, a rural sociologist at the University of California, Berkeley, who studied cannabis cultivation in Siskiyou County, said that for many years, the area has mainly been inhabited by white retirees, squatters, and some methamphetamine users. manufacturer.

But in 2015, Hmong growers began to move into these areas from Minneapolis, Milwaukee, and Fresno. The U.S. State Department resettled Hmong refugees in these areas. These refugees worked with the U.S. military during the Vietnam War to make them Persecuted by the Communist Party. This is also when California voters passed Proposition 64, which legalized the recreational use of marijuana and changed the penalty for growing and selling marijuana from a felony to a misdemeanor.

Since several acres of juniper and sagebrush land can be purchased for as little as $2,500, residents often bypass permit requirements and build farms with poor living conditions.

"In some cases, people try to live an honest life. In other cases, we settle here to stay away from the city," said 59-year-old Bee Xiong, who retired early and relocated his six from Wisconsin. Home, restarted on 40 acres of land.

Hmong pot plant growers in Siskiyou County seek identity, profit-or both

Today, about 1,000 Hmong people live in the sub-district, but county officials complain that only 80 to 84 of the many buildings there have obtained permits.

“There is usually no septic tank system on the package, so a hole is usually dug to pump untreated sewage from a travel trailer or unauthorized structure into the ground,” said Siskiyou County Sheriff Jeremiah LaRue. He said the authorities are also concerned that pesticides, fertilizers and solvents from farms may enter the groundwater supply.

County authorities described these subdivisions as large-scale commercial cannabis operations and said they contributed to lawlessness. LaRue said that in the past few years, the Sheriff’s Office has responded to reports of armed robberies, assaults and murders. He said that in the past week, six people were tied up and robbed by gunmen armed with AK-47 rifles.

The county supervisor strictly restricted planting within one growing season, including a total ban on outdoor planting.

Peterson-Rockney said: "For a long time, the county has been growing marijuana by white people, at least as far back as the 1960s. No one blinked, and it is rarely mentioned in county records." "This Hmong community seems to have entered the area very much Coincidentally, the county suddenly became fascinated by marijuana."

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By 2016, the Sheriff’s Office had listed the criminal public enemy of marijuana cultivation as the number one. The following year, the county declared a state of emergency on this matter, and it will be updated every year thereafter.

In a statement last year, as the state fell into a drought, the Board of Supervisors noticed the water crisis and stated that cannabis cultivation is depleting surface and groundwater resources.

Then the well began to dry up. Residents in areas such as Big Springs reported that nothing came out after turning on the tap.

Some people blame the growth of marijuana. They also accused local farmers like Stephen Griset of selling water from their wells to market segments. On the edge of the property in Griset, along the road of Mount Shasta Vista, you can often see a row of trucks waiting to be refilled.

"Our well is 265 feet, and some of them have 40-foot and 50-foot wells," Grisett said. "But when their well dries up, they look at the waterwheel and say,'Wait a minute, we don't have water, but they have water.' So they began to resent."

In August last year, the county passed the first of a number of emergency ordinances aimed at cracking down on water use, declaring it illegal to mine groundwater for cannabis cultivation, and prohibiting people from allowing the use of groundwater on their property.

The following month, the county sued Griset and another farmer, accusing them of continuing to supply water to the hemp farm.

Illegal pot invaded the California desert, bringing violence, fear, and ecological destruction

Illegal cannabis cultivation broke out in the California desert, accompanied by forced labor, ecological destruction and fear

Things escalated in May, when the county passed a decree requiring permission to allow groundwater to be transported out of parcels for any purpose, and to operate on the road to Shasta Vista Mountain designed to carry 100 gallons or more. Water truck.

For some people in the Hmong community, the county's water fetching operation evokes memories of the suffering they endured while avoiding communist forces in the jungles of Southeast Asia.

"My current living situation is a lot like living in the jungles of Laos," Der Lee, 56, wrote in a court document. "However, in the jungle, I have plenty of water."

Residents of the Hmong ethnic group said that the water disputes have made some racist neighbors and officials brazen, and their public hatred has triggered fear of vigilance. They recounted their experiences of being questioned at community gatherings, being harassed on online forums, and repeatedly being stopped by law enforcement while driving.

These concerns led Lee and others to file a federal civil rights lawsuit accusing the county of violating the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees citizens equal protection of the law.

Federal Judge Mueller suspended the two May decree on September 3 until the lawsuit was resolved, saying that the plaintiff had seriously questioned the county's motives.

She wrote: “It is difficult to compare the county government’s concerns about the health and well-being of Shasta Vista people with its decision to completely cut off the water supply.” “This evidence supports the plaintiff’s statement that the county government intends that its licensing regulations are compelling The effect of Shasta Vista residents leaving their homes."

Residents and supporters who mobilized for a series of demonstrations against the decree welcomed the news with cautious optimism.

"It's time," said Tong Xiong, who organized a protest and attracted more than 700 supporters to Yreka this summer.

Bee Xiong and others who were not involved in the lawsuit said they were called "cartel" members or "Asian mafia" by residents and police.

"They label us to get us into trouble," Xiong Xiong said.

Others said that Larue posted a controversial post on the Facebook page of the Sheriff’s Office, which inflamed tensions. One post asked people to help level the cannabis farm by lending the department’s heavy equipment and operating it voluntarily. One hints that local businesses may have trouble supplying goods and services for cannabis growers.

The Facebook page also shared a number of photos of the garbage from the plantation, triggering such things as "I hope you burn it, the growers and everyone", "Eliminate them" and "Maybe winter is here, they need to be burned?" Comment. ? ? ? ? "

So, when the lava fire triggered by lightning rushed towards Mount Shasta Vista in late June, it might not be surprising that an ongoing rumor was that the sheriff’s office had started it.

When officials ordered the district to evacuate, emotions exploded. Some residents stayed to defend their property, but without water, their informal fire brigade was forced to put out the fire on the spot with buckets and sand. According to LaRue, there are also reports of district residents being hostile to firefighters and law enforcement officers, throwing stones or setting up roadblocks. He said that 14 people were arrested for entering the evacuation zone and refusing to leave.

Before the lava fire became the worst fire in California so far in 2021, the staff tried but could not stop it

Shasta-Trinity National Forest spokesperson Adrienne Freeman (Adrienne Freeman) said of the lava fire: "This fire is small." "Until it doesn't."

It was in this chaos that 35-year-old Soobleej Kaub Hawj encountered a checkpoint set up by police and firefighters outside Mount Shasta Vista. The authorities said that when the police ordered Huoji and other drivers to turn left and away from the fire, Huoji tried to turn right and pointed a pistol at the police. The police opened fire on Hoggy and killed him in the seat of his pickup truck. His wife and three children are in a car behind him.

LaRue stated that the authorities believed that Hawj fired a weapon, but it is not clear whether he might have fired first. Members of the Hmong community stated that they have witnesses who are willing to confirm that law enforcement agencies are entangled with the victim and "target the victim first," Tong Xiong said.

The incident happened so quickly that the police officer with the body camera didn't activate them, Dist. Atty. Kirk Andrews said, adding that there were video of the dash cam taken from a distance, as well as footage of the body camcorder that activated after shooting and showed the consequences.

"This is a routine checkpoint, it became unroutine in an instant," he said.

Images of Hawj's bullet-filled truck circulated on social media aroused the interest of the Hmong community and advocates, and sparked more protests.

"This is the last straw that we have suffered in the county," Tong Xiong said. "If we don't stand up for our constitutional rights, you know, we will always be blocked, and another Miao brother and sister will be harmed."

The shooting drew national attention to Siskiyou County and put local officials on the defensive, as their offices were flooded with petitions and appeals for justice, and the American Civil Liberties Union, the Asian Legal Caucus, and the Southeast Asian Resource Action The center and other organizations also magnified this.

It also raised the issue of the impact on local businesses if officials succeed in expelling cannabis farmers. It is estimated that in Siskiyou County, the number of cannabis farmers exceeds other farmers and ranchers by 2 to 1.

Ed Valenzuela, the only director among the five members of the board who responded to The Times news, believes that the influx of Hmong residents has helped the local economy. He said that Big Springs has a gas station and grocery store where you were lucky enough to find soda and candy bars, and is now the top 10 producer of sales tax revenue in Siskiyou County.

Valenzuela said he received phone calls and emails from Hmong people and advocates, many of whom were from outside the area, condemning the county's actions. He pointed out that the supervisory staff in Siskiyou County does not have an office or staff.

"We are a poor rural county and we are trying our best to do our best," he said. "We are responding to a problem."

He insisted that the problem is not the Hmong people, but the growth of illegal marijuana.

"To be honest, I want them to grow tomatoes," he said. "That will make life a lot easier."

The Times Special Writer, Page St. John, contributed to this report.

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Alex Wigglesworth is an environmental journalist covering wildfires for the Los Angeles Times. Before joining the newsroom in 2016, she was the general dispatch reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News, and Philly.com. She is a native of Philadelphia and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with degrees in medical anthropology and global health. She currently lives in Inglewood.

Anh Do is a Metro reporter, covering Asian American issues and general assignments. As a second-generation reporter, she worked for the Dallas Morning News, Seattle Times, Orange County Chronicle, and the largest Vietnamese-language newspaper in the United States, "Vietnam Daily"

Since 1997, Brian van der Brug has been a full-time photojournalist for the Los Angeles Times.

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