Human Impact Project

ICE agents appeared in the parking lot of a food processing facility in Oregon, causing panic among workers. The incident occurred amid a sharp increase in immigration arrests across Oregon in the same week.

A crowd of about 30 community members confronted federal immigration agents in northeast Salem, Oregon, surrounding and blocking their vehicles near Lancaster Drive Northeast and Sunnyview Road Northeast. Agents deployed tear gas, pepper spray, and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd before driving away, and 911 received multiple calls reporting people with tear-gas related breathing difficulties. Residents Jose Garivey and his wife Martha Vitela, who witnessed the incident, said an agent drove an SUV into another vehicle and that agents appeared to taunt the crowd rather than leave. Congresswoman Andrea Salinas said ICE deployed pepper spray and smoke canisters against elderly people and children and that agents followed and harassed U.S. citizens.

Federal immigration agents broke a driver's window during a traffic stop outside Century High School in Hillsboro, Oregon, on Oct. 7, shortly after 10 a.m. It remains unclear whether the driver was detained. The stop was part of a broader enforcement surge that advocates say detained at least 21 people across Oregon between Oct. 6 and Oct. 8, including activity in Hillsboro, Cornelius, Forest Grove, Gresham, Troutdale and eastern Portland. Washington County follows Oregon's sanctuary law, and local officials said deputies do not collaborate with ICE or honor administrative warrants, though no county statement addressed the October surge as of publication.

Oscar Bracamontes Trinidad, a Medford, Oregon father of five, was detained by ICE agents while at work and later deported to Mexico. His wife, Margarita Bracamontes Torres, said she wasn't notified of his arrest until hours later, by which point he was already being transported to Tacoma, Washington, and said ICE paperwork falsely stated he was picked up at an ICE facility rather than his workplace. Oscar was held in Tacoma for about 30 days before being transferred to a detention facility in Natchez, Mississippi, making visits impossible; the family ultimately decided not to fight his case in detention, which could have taken six months to a year, and he returned to Mexico. Margarita said their children struggled emotionally during his detention, and she is now raising money to relocate the family to Mexico while they pursue an I-130 petition to return to the U.S.

Christian Jimenez, a 17-year-old U.S. citizen and high school senior in McMinnville, Oregon, was detained by ICE officers on November 21, 2025, while driving off campus during his lunch break. Officers broke the driver's side window of his car after he told them he was a U.S. citizen; video reviewed by ProPublica captured the exchange, with an agent responding, "I don't care." Jimenez was held at ICE's facility in South Portland for nearly seven hours before being released around 7 p.m. DHS alleged Jimenez attacked officers with his vehicle, a claim disputed by his family and immigrant-justice groups, and authorities sought obstruction-related charges, with some reports differing on whether Jimenez or his brother was the intended target. The detention was one of four involving U.S. citizens in the Portland area that week, prompting a 300-student walkout and community protests over ICE tactics near schools.

Gerardo Sanchez Lopez (also reported as Chavez Lopez), a longtime Clatsop County resident who came to the United States as a teenager and owns and operates multiple businesses in the area, was detained by ICE officers on June 7 while agents were searching for another man, Marco Antonio Mendoza-Cesar, who was also detained that day. ICE officers moved Sanchez Lopez between vehicles at the Port of Astoria's Pier 1 before transporting him to the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington. The use of port property by ICE prompted complaints to the Oregon Department of Justice over a potential violation of the state's sanctuary laws, though the Port of Astoria said staff faced a difficult situation and did the right thing by allowing agents access. Sanchez Lopez has since been released and returned home to Clatsop County, though a person close to him said he will need to check in with immigration again in several months.

On June 7, 2026, ICE agents conducted an operation at the Port of Astoria's Pier 1, detaining two men. As vehicles left the scene, Astoria resident Stefanie Collar, who had been observing the agents, approached one vehicle at a nearby red light, pressing her body against it because she believed an officer was preparing to pepper-spray her. An officer rolled down his window and sprayed her as the vehicle drove past, and two additional vehicles following also sprayed her. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said officers had been 'swarmed by a group of 20 rioters,' but video footage reviewed by KMUN and witness accounts showed only a few people on a nearby sidewalk, contradicting that account. An ICE officer separately called local police to report that agents used pepper spray after being swarmed.

At least 21 people, mostly agricultural workers at cannabis farms, were detained by ICE during raids conducted September 23-24 across Jackson and Josephine counties, Oregon, as part of a two-year investigation into a drug-trafficking organization. Raids occurred at farms in Medford, Ruch, Central Point, Eagle Point, Rogue River, Jacksonville, and Cave Junction, with the September 23 operations in Ruch and West Medford involving DEA, Customs and Border Protection, Medford Police, and Jackson County Sheriff's Office, resulting in 13 detentions. A separate September 24 raid in Cave Junction, involving the FBI, Josephine Marijuana Enforcement Team, Josephine County Sheriff, Oregon State Police, and ICE, resulted in at least 8 detentions. Witnesses documented GEO Group detention vehicles, operator of the Northwest Detention Center, at multiple sites, and one detained person was treated by emergency responders while in handcuffs. Jackson County Sheriff's Office said it did not coordinate with ICE on immigration enforcement and was not told immigration detentions were planned, citing Oregon's sanctuary law; Medford police said their role was limited to the criminal investigation. Rogue Valley Migra Watch said the raids, along with a July 2025 raid that detained 17 farmworkers, represent the largest documented ICE operations in Southern Oregon, and advocates have questioned whether local and state law enforcement participation violated the sanctuary law. ICE and the FBI have not publicly identified those detained or confirmed the total count.

A witness described being followed by immigration officers from a Medford store to Emigrant Lake in July before he and a companion were taken into custody. His account was presented as evidence in a federal hearing examining whether ICE officers in the Rogue Valley complied with a February court order requiring individualized assessments before warrantless arrests. Government attorneys have disputed the allegations, and the judge has not yet ruled on the claims.

A Medford man testified in federal court that immigration officers surrounded his vehicle when he arrived at work in June, broke a window and handcuffed him before releasing him after determining he was not the person they were seeking. He told the court he had an active asylum application at the time. His testimony was presented as evidence in a hearing where lawyers argued ICE officers failed to comply with a February court order requiring individual assessments of flight risk before warrantless arrests.

A 34-year-old Venezuelan man known only as JCCV, who lives in The Dalles, Oregon with his family and had a pending immigration application, testified he was detained by ICE agents who mistakenly believed he was his brother and never checked his identification. He was transported to a detention facility in Portland and held for multiple days, during which agents pressured him to sign a voluntary self-deportation document written in English, a language he cannot read, without explaining what it meant. His testimony was part of a federal court hearing examining whether ICE has continued making warrantless arrests in Oregon despite a February injunction requiring warrants and flight-risk assessments before arrests.

Diego Giraldo Hincapie, a husband, father of three, and grandfather who moved to the United States in 2021 after leaving Venezuela to escape dictatorship, poverty, and hunger, was detained by ICE on September 10, 2026. His bond has been set at $35,000, an amount his family says they cannot afford on their own. His niece, who describes him as a father figure in her life, is raising funds to help pay his bond so he can reunite with his wife, children, and granddaughter while his immigration case continues.

Gustavo Barrera Reyes was also arrested by ICE officers in Seaside around the same time as another local resident. According to a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, Barrera Reyes entered the United States without authorization in 2014 and now faces removal proceedings.

Martin Anguiano, 63, who has owned and operated Guadalajara Taco Shop in Seaside for 23 years, was arrested by ICE officers on September 10 while picking up supplies at a Safeway. Officers cited a 1993 removal order, after which Anguiano was deported and later returned to the country; his family says he has faced no charges since and is now questioning the validity of the warrant ICE is using to hold him. His wife, Michelle, said she is struggling to understand what happened and described him as a hardworking father, grandfather and husband known throughout the community, while Steve Haugen, owner of the building housing the restaurant, called him "the last person you'd think would be arrested." Anguiano is being held at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, where his family says conditions are poor, and a GoFundMe started by his daughter has raised more than $14,000 for bills and legal fees.

Diego Mauricio Ospina Sanchez, a 41-year-old Colombian man, was detained by six plainclothes ICE agents at an Alaska Airlines departure gate at Portland International Airport while preparing to fly home to New Jersey with his boyfriend, Kewin, after a vacation in California and Washington. Ospina Sanchez had entered the U.S. legally in October 2024, later overstayed his visa and sought asylum, but said he never received notice of his first immigration court hearing, resulting in an in-absentia deportation order issued August 13, 2026. Kewin said agents surrounded the couple and demanded identification before taking Ospina Sanchez away, saying, "They hunt us as if we were bad people... as if you were a criminal or an animal." Left alone at the airport, Kewin contacted a local immigrant rights hotline and received help from community members. Since the arrest, Ospina Sanchez has been repeatedly transferred between detention facilities in Tacoma, El Paso, Louisiana, and Arizona, reporting poor sleep, poor appetite, psychological distress, and weight loss, and was denied his regular medical treatment on one occasion. Through a lawyer, Kewin has filed a motion to reopen the case and a stay of removal, spending more than $11,000 on legal fees. A DHS spokesperson said Ospina Sanchez received due process and that the agency is targeting travelers with expired visas as part of a new enforcement push, and the Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition said it was the first known immigration arrest this year at the airport.

The servicemember, who is currently deployed overseas, started a fundraiser after learning her mother had been taken into ICE custody. She said she has spent her own resources on legal fees to try to keep her mother from being deported and is seeking donations to continue funding the legal fight.

Fidel Cordero Garcia, a father and pastor in Woodburn, Oregon, was detained by federal immigration agents the same week as another local man, Juan Miguel Aldape. Cordero Garcia's son had joined the U.S. Marines with the goal of eventually helping his father obtain a green card, and was just one week away from turning 21 — the age at which he would have been eligible to petition for his father's residency. Family members say the timing meant Cordero Garcia was detained just before that path to legal status could open.

Juan Miguel Aldape (Aldape-Palacios), a Newberg, Oregon resident of about 22 years and devout Catholic, was detained by masked federal immigration agents without a warrant while shopping for construction supplies with coworkers outside a Lowe's in McMinnville. A coworker who confirmed U.S. citizenship was released, while Aldape and another coworker were arrested; ICE described the action as part of a 'targeted enforcement operation.' Family members say he has no criminal record, is a taxpayer, and serves as primary caregiver for his youngest son, who has autism, as well as a grandfather whose grandchildren call him 'Papa Juan.' He was transferred through ICE facilities in Portland and Tacoma before being moved to the Richwood Correctional Center in Louisiana, and his family said they could not reach him for over a week and struggled to secure legal representation. Advocates from Innovation Law Lab and Unidos Bridging Community, along with relatives including daughter-in-law Ashleen Aldape, said the warrantless arrest violated a February federal court order barring such ICE arrests in Oregon.

The petitioners, a mother and her adult daughter, entered the United States in March 2014 and later applied for asylum, which was denied; they were ordered removed in December 2015, and their appeal was dismissed in 2017. The mother married a U.S. citizen in May 2022, and her husband filed I-130 relative petitions for both her and her daughter in August 2023. Their I-130 interviews were scheduled for August 5, 2026 at the USCIS Field Office in Portland, Oregon. Fearing that ICE would detain and deport them at that interview based on broader administration enforcement policies rather than an individualized assessment, they filed a habeas corpus petition and sought a temporary restraining order. They argued detention and removal would violate their Fifth Amendment due process rights and would preempt a motion to reopen their removal proceedings. The court found a reasonable likelihood they would be detained and quickly transferred out of Oregon, which lacks an immigration detention facility, potentially undermining its jurisdiction. The court issued an order under the All Writs Act barring the government from arresting, detaining, or deporting the petitioners during the pendency of the case, and denied the TRO motion as moot given this relief.

Maria, a U.S. citizen of seven years, was driving near Salem, Oregon on January 29 to pick up her paycheck, pay rent, and buy her grandson a birthday cake when she was boxed in by unmarked ICE vehicles. Agents smashed her car window, dragged her from the vehicle, and threw her to the ground despite her presenting a valid passport; an agent told her to renew the passport before leaving without calling for medical help. Her child witnessed the encounter and called 911. She suffered a concussion, a torn rotator cuff, and bruised ribs. Salem Police told her family they lacked jurisdiction to investigate federal officer misconduct and referred them to the FBI and Department of Homeland Security, which has not responded to questions about the incident. On July 28, U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas cited her case at a congressional hearing on ICE accountability in Houston, calling for body cameras on immigration agents and independent investigations when agents injure people.