Federal immigration agents detained at least 30 people headed to work Thursday morning in Woodburn — marking the largest immigration raid in Oregon since President Donald Trump took office in January, advocates say.
At a press conference in Portland on Friday, farmworker advocacy group Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste, known as PCUN, confirmed details of the raid. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation.
Federal immigration agents detained most people between 5 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. Thursday, which is when most farmworkers head to work, PCUN Executive Director Reyna Lopez said.
“A lot of the folks that got picked up yesterday, they were the main breadwinners of their family, so there’s moms and kids right now that don’t know what they’re going to do when it comes to their financial reality,” Lopez said.
ICE has ramped up its immigration enforcement operations since Trump took office. Regional director Camilla Wamsley, responsible for ICE operations in Oregon, Washington and Alaska, said in court on Friday that she’s set an internal goal of 30 arrests per day for the region — double the daily goal the regional agency had in 2024.
ICE agents have detained more than 200 people living in Oregon since President Trump took office, Lopez said. The raids are disproportionately impacting Latino families, many of whom have lived and raised children in Oregon for years, Lopez said. In Woodburn, Hispanics make up 63% of the town’s population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
“These are families who came here seeking safety and a better life,” Lopez said. “These are families who had the courage and the tenacity to move everything to this country for a hope and a dream, and yet, every single day, there are people that are being snatched by Trump’s mass secret police, and they are being kidnapped from our communities.”
Although an ongoing lawsuit has prevented Trump from deploying the National Guard to Oregon, it did not stop his administration from sending more ICE agents, Lopez said at the conference. A restraining order pausing guard deployment expires Sunday, but a federal judge could issue a more permanent ruling as soon as Friday or over the weekend.
State Rep. Lesly Muñoz, D-Woodburn, said Thursday’s arrests are part of a coordinated effort to target Oregon’s construction workers, farmworkers, educators and families.
“Due process rights apply to everyone under our Constitution, regardless of immigration status,” she said in a statement. “I call on federal agencies to uphold these constitutional standards.”
Some Oregon leaders also criticized the Trump administration for ramping up immigration enforcement operations in the middle of a government shutdown that began Oct. 1.
Graham Trainor, president of Oregon AFL-CIO, the statewide federation of labor unions that represents over 300,000 Oregonians, said the Trump administration’s actions are immoral and cruel.
“The Trump administration found billions of our taxpayer dollars to spend on this lawless secret service force, yet in just a couple days, millions of Americans will go hungry because he refuses to fund SNAP, including 757,000 Oregonians,” Trainor said at Friday’s press conference. “The Trump administration found hundreds of millions to build his personal ballroom, yet our government is shut down because he wants to deny Americans affordable health care.”
Because Republicans and Democrats in Congress could not agree to pass appropriations bills needed to fund federal agencies and programs, causing the federal government to shut down, Americans — including the one in six Oregonians who rely on federal SNAP food and nutrition assistance to pay for groceries each month — may be left with nothing in November.
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek followed other state governors’ steps on Wednesday by declaring a state of emergency over hunger and directing $5 million to food banks across the state. Two federal judges ruled Friday morning that the Trump administration couldn’t legally block SNAP benefits, but it remains unclear if and when recipients will receive funds. SNAP recipients typically get their funds on the 1st through 9th of each month, depending on the last digit of their Social Security number.
House Majority Leader Ben Bowman, D-Tigard, said ICE detained working people trying to provide for their families.
“There are so many ways the federal government could be helping Oregonians: preserving food assistance, lowering tariffs to ease the affordability burden, reversing their disastrous decision to cut health care for millions,” he said in a statement on Friday. ”Instead, federal Republicans continue to find ways to hurt Oregon families.”
U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas, a Democrat who represents Oregon’s 6th Congressional District based in the Willamette Valley, said she is deeply disturbed by the ICE raid reports in her district. Salinas said she will continue supporting Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield’s lawsuits against the Trump administration and support the attorneys and impacted families.
“To those in our community who are fearful to travel to school, work, or anywhere else in public, and to those who are as appalled by this administration’s actions as I am, know that you are not alone,” Salinas said in a statement. “I will hold this administration accountable and keep sounding the alarm about Trump’s actions so that all Americans see what is happening – in addition to legislating, litigating, and agitating.”
The Oregonian was the first to report that the raids were the largest Oregon’s seen since Trump took office.
By Mia Maldonado of news partner Oregon Capital Chronicle
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