Sen. Jeff Merkley named Hillsboro a target of "intensified" federal immigration enforcement after he and two Oregon lawmakers visited the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in southwest Portland on Friday, Oct. 9.
Merkley, Rep. Suzanne Bonamici and Rep. Maxine Dexter made the trip after hearing reports that immigration attorneys were being denied access to detained clients, according to KOIN.
"We are hearing an intensified operation in East County, in Woodburn, in Hillsboro. We have no real details on how many (and) where," Merkley said at a press conference after the visit.
Details remain scarce.
The visit came two days after an ICE arrest near Century High School in Hillsboro on Wednesday, Oct. 7, and amid a sharp spike in enforcement across the state. As we reported Friday, the Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition confirmed 21 immigration arrests across Oregon between Oct. 6 and Oct. 8. That three-day total approached the 76 arrests the coalition tracked across all of September.
Attorneys denied access
Dexter's office said the Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition reported attorneys were denied access to four clients on 12 separate occasions on Wednesday, Oct. 7, KGW reported. On some occasions during the Friday visit, the lawmakers themselves were turned away from the facility.
Dexter said roughly 85% of ICE officers at the Portland facility had been moved to California, leaving no one to oversee it as a processing center. Federal officials told the lawmakers about 18 ICE agents were making arrests across Oregon, KGW reported.
Bonamici raised concerns that detainees are being transferred from Portland to a detention facility in Tacoma, Washington, making it harder for families and attorneys to reach them.
In a statement, Dexter's office said no one should be denied access to legal counsel regardless of immigration status and called for transparency and accountability from ICE.
Hillsboro response
The Hillsboro Police Department said on Wednesday, Oct. 7, that officers responded to reported incidents and documented them in accordance with state law and city policy. Hillsboro School District spokesperson Beth Graser told The Oregonian parents were not notified of the arrest near Century High because it did not occur on campus and students were not impacted.
ICE had not responded to media questions about the total number of people detained in Oregon or whether additional arrests were planned, as of Friday.
The City of Hillsboro maintains an immigration resources page with information on residents' rights and a link to the Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition's 24/7 hotline at 1-888-622-1510.
