Since early June, Portland residents and agencies have responded with resistance to the Trump administration’s efforts to increase arrests for immigration violations. Early this summer, reports of arrests made by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents of immigrants in the Portland metropolitan area began circulating within communities and across social media platforms.
In the first two weeks of June, at least four arrests occurred during or after their appearances in Portland Immigration Court, including the June 18 arrest of a Colombian immigrant shortly after leaving court in downtown Portland. According to the unidentified man’s immigration attorney, Yessenia Martinez, he had no criminal history and was undergoing the legal process of seeking asylum.
On August 7, four unidentified migrant workers from Woodburn were arrested while en route to work at a blueberry farm in Canby. The incident was reported to the Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition hotline, with witnesses alleging that the ICE agents broke the driver’s side window and prevented the workers from speaking with legal representation. A habeas corpus petition was filed for one of the workers, identified only by the initials LJPL, who had applied for asylum in early 2024 after fleeing a group of people who had killed his brother in Guatemala.
Similar incidents sparked protests at the ICE subfield office on Macadam Ave., beginning in June and continuing throughout the summer. The protests and statements from officials of the City of Portland and local advocacy groups highlight a concern for what impacts the federal government’s demands may have on immigrant communities and the City of Portland at large.
After a summer of continued protests outside the Macadam Ave ICE processing facility, Trump has recently expressed his intent to deploy the National Guard to the City of Portland. Portland Mayor Keith Wilson released a statement on Sept. 5 stating that the City of Portland does not want or need federal intervention. Due to the continued protests and the use of tear gas and other forms of riot control, students at the local Cottonwood School were relocated due to safety and health concerns.
The state of Oregon has been a sanctuary state since 1987, a designation that prevents Oregon state authorities and resources from participating in immigration enforcement without a judicial warrant. The City of Portland itself was designated as a sanctuary city in 2017, meaning that employees of the city (including the Portland Police) do not enforce immigration law and do not report immigration violations to federal immigration agencies such as ICE and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). However, this sanctuary status does not allow the City of Portland to prevent ICE from entering the city or to intervene in any arrests made by federal agents. ICE can operate in Portland, but they cannot receive any resources from the city, whether that be funds or personnel.
As reports of ICE raids and arrests continue across Portland, advocacy groups around the city are speaking out. In an interview with Oregon Public Broadcasting, Lee Po Cha, executive director of the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization — an organization which has been providing support services to immigrants and refugees in Oregon since the 1970s — reaffirmed the necessity for local communities to stick together.
“Oregonians are quite supportive and passionate about this community or those that were most vulnerable,” Cha said.
Local unions and community groups have expressed similar sentiments. The City of Portland Professional Workers Union released a statement in February expressing their commitment to supporting immigrant rights and condemning increased ICE activity in the city. In July, the Interfaith Movement for Immigrant Justice, another local advocacy group, released a statement expressing solidarity for immigrants in Portland and signed onto the Local 5 labor union’s commitment to refuse to cooperate with ICE agents.
Portland leaders, including recently elected Mayor Keith Wilson, and the leaders of community groups like the Latino Network and the Portland City Council held a press conference in June to reaffirm the city’s sanctuary status. City Council President Elana Pirtle-Guiney emphasized solidarity with Portland’s immigrants.
“We cannot tolerate policies or actions from our federal government that not only jeopardize the safety and trust of our neighbors but that violate the due process we are all guaranteed,” Pirtle-Guiney said.
On the Lewis and Clark campus, news about these developments has influenced what students have been feeling in regards to the City of Portland and our college’s role in how the City proceeds. Z’Maury Zamora ’25 drew some comparisons between Portland and her home state of New Mexico.
“I think ICE is more visible in places like New Mexico or California while here in Portland they are a little more under the radar possibly creating a sense of security when it is not that at all,” Zamora said, referencing Portland’s comparatively low proportion of residents who are Hispanic. “I worry about the people who have to live in fear, they have to adjust to the current reality of what’s going on.”
Zamora is correct that states closer to the southern border have a higher percentage of Hispanic residents than is present in the Pacific Northwest. According to 2020 Census Data, Oregon’s population of 4.2 million is just 13.9% Hispanic. New Mexico, on the other hand, is 50.1% Hispanic in a state with a population of 2.13 Million. According to the most recent census data, Oregon currently ranks 14th when comparing Hispanic population among the 50 states.
Advocacy groups continue to express their concern for immigrants in the city and have publicized information about what to do when faced with federal immigration enforcement. Isa Pena, an employee of the Innovation Law Lab who is involved with the Sanctuary Promise Hotline, emphasizes efforts to prevent immigrants apprehended by federal agents from being moved across state lines to the overnight holding facility in Tacoma, Washington, where detainees are much less likely to be granted bond.
City officials have continued to express their commitment to upholding the sanctuary status of Portland, due process and immigrant rights. Portlanders have been working all summer to remain informed about ICE presence and activity in the city. ICE activity can be reported to the Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition at 888-622-1510 or to the Sanctuary Promise Hotline at 1-844-924-7829.
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