By SHAYLA ESCUDERO/ Lincoln Chronicle
NEWPORT – Immigration enforcement agents took a man into custody outside a Newport motel Wednesday morning in a highly public arrest that sent fear through many workers who staff local lodging and restaurant jobs.
It is unclear how many arrests by U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement officers have made in Lincoln County since the Trump Administration’s enforcement crackdown. But Wednesday’s detention was certainly the most public, as several unmarked ICE vehicles and masked agents took a man from his vehicle about 8 a.m. in front of the Allred Hotel on Elizabeth Street.
Since Trump took office immigration arrests in Oregon have tripled, according to data collected by Berkley Law’s Deportation Data Project. However, the number of arrests is relatively low when compared to other states – partly because of Oregon’s status as a sanctuary state. Under Oregon law, local law enforcement agencies are prohibited from using public resources to support or assist federal immigration enforcement.
Oregon does not have its own overnight detention center and to hold someone they have to be taken to a detention center in Tacoma, Wash., creating a hurdle for immigration arrests in the state. A rapid response network has also been established to help detainees and their families, including a hotline run by Portland Immigration Rights Coalition that helps verify ICE sightings and get people connected with lawyers.
Still, Oregon residents are getting detained, including a father outside his child’s school in Beaverton, Woodburn farmworkers headed to blueberry fields and an asylum seeker from Newport who won his court battle for unlawful detention.
In Newport Wednesday morning, several agents in unmarked immigration enforcement vehicles took a man from his car and told a woman accompanying him she had a week to leave the country, witnesses told the Lincoln Chronicle.
Four vehicles surrounded the car and six agents – four who wore masks covering their faces — were in the street across by the Allred Hotel.
A Nye Beach business owner was on her way to work when she stopped to take videos of the encounter. While she was filming, she shouted to the woman, reminding her of her rights. The business owner later spoke to the woman and learned ICE agents told her she had a week to leave the country and that the woman had obtained a lawyer.
“I lived here my whole life and never saw anything like it,” the business owner told the Chronicle. “I wished more people stopped and got out of their car when they saw it happening.”
Two guests of the Allred Hotel saw agents detain the man from their third story room and watched the scene unfold from the balcony in their bathrobes. They counted the number of unmarked vehicles and agents they saw in the street below and relayed it to a member of Oregon’s rapid response network who came to collect details later that morning.
The Elizabeth Hotel managers declined to comment. Employees at the Allred Hotel said they didn’t witness the incident firsthand but had heard about the immigration enforcement vehicles that morning and had seen videos posted on community Facebook groups.
Word quickly spread through the community, and workers were fearful of being profiled, a Newport Bayfront employee told the Chronicle. Some restaurant managers shared resources so that employees were aware of their rights and had access to the immigration response hotline.
Several employees of Bayfront restaurants said they were understaffed Wednesday because employees were afraid to come to work and some businesses closed due to the lack of staff.
“My co-workers are in danger and scared,” a Bayfront restaurant employee told the Chronicle.
Later Wednesday afternoon, a man along U.S. Highway 101 held a painted surfboard in protest with the words “ICE is here attacking our community.”
There have been other detentions in Newport before Wednesday, but the rapid response hotline did not have specific data to share, a hotline worker told the Chronicle. The rapid response network could only confirm one detention Wednesday in Newport.
The Newport Police Department issued a short press release Wednesday afternoon saying it had no prior knowledge of the ICE operation and did not assist in any way.
ICE officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
- Shayla Escudero covers Lincoln County government, education, Newport, housing and social services for Lincoln Chronicle and can be reached at Shayla@LincolnChronicle.org
I’ve been worried they would target the Bayfront.
Thank you for covering this important local event. I pray for the safety of this worker.
As an American who was raised Jewish, I want ICE agents to know that I firmly believe they are acting like Nazis.
Absolutely agree. One man’s ego, triggering so much bad behavior and we can only watch? But we can use our voices and words. We need to stand up to tyranny. We have a small community, dependent on tourism, we need to protect it. As a kid I picked fruit and cleaned hotel rooms. I know how hard that work is. And it was the money I made that helped me go to college and gain more skills. There is nothing wrong with being poor and if you get on a path for more skills, everyone is served. Who is served by these raids? Not the locals and certainly not the tourists, if there are no workers to support their stay. Trashing our local economy to serve some some bigoted game, does not help us. It is time to stand up and protect our community.
Dang. I was about to call a highly recommended local landscaping company to bid a project I need done by winter. Probably pointless now because there is probably not enough staff at this time. Gee, thanks Donald Trump. You’re making America great again, alright. A great big beautiful,
troubled, angry, and mocked-by-the-rest-of-the-civilized-world mess.
Call them, Clemencia. Support the highly recommended business, sounds like they’ve earned you as a potential client.
People need the money to raise their children, pay their rent/mortgage etc. We can’t make our community suffer more because of this crisis.
Betcha they’re ready to start and complete your project.
As a person who works in an amazing restaurant on the Newport Bayfront, my co-workers were frightened. Racial profiling, no questions asked, some are second language learners and not very fluent in English. Everyone of my co-workers are extremely hard working, amazing work ethics, many do positions that no one else will apply for. Almost everyone has worked at my establishment for over eight years. No criminals, also working at other local restaurants after their shift here is complete.
The masked cowards make $50,000 to just sign up as an ICE agents. This is a factual nationwide ad for recruiting. It’s so shameful. “Attention Law Enforcement. You took an oath to protect and serve. To keep your family, your neighborhood safe. But in too many cities, dangerous illegals walk free ― as police are forced to stand down.”
I immediately understand the subtext of this language. As a cop, there’s oversight — body cameras rolling and rules that need to be followed. But this ad appears to be saying that if you join ICE, you can be the bully you’ve always wanted to be, and you won’t have to answer for not adhering to the Constitution or any violence or inappropriate behavior that might occur while doing the job. There is no oversight.
Essentially, the government seems to be saying, “Here’s up to $50,000 just to sign up. Here are health benefits. Here’s a gun. Here’s a baton. Come be the kick-ass man or woman you’ve always wanted to be, with no police department protocol limiting you. Wear a mask. No badge.
I’m especially worried that this commercial is not so subtly targeting police officers who may already be bad actors or have issues with authority and following a chain of command.
The only positive? Things can be fixed once this disgusting part of our history is finally voted out.
Our local sheriffs, State Police, SWAT, etc. thank you for your service. Grateful for you everyday.
Thank you for this article, thank you for the timing … this happened yesterday morning, you were on it Shayla.
Thank you, K. Dawn, for saying what I’ve been thinking!
Very well said and exactly how I feel. We also can’t forget that many of the ICE agents that were recruited are not only untrained, but also members of the organizations that consist of people pardoned from the Jan. 6 insurrection. This is very scary and needs to stop. Republicans in congress need to do some deep soul searching (and grow a spine) and stop these raids. My heart breaks for the hard-working Hispanic community. If you see something, do something.
So ICE is hiring people in this country legally, yet everyone commenting here is on the side of those who are probably here illegally. Where are the American workers for the landscapers, the restaurants, and the motels? Who is hiring people illegally and what are the consequences for that? I think that if you are upset about these detentions you should apply for these jobs that are available. Oh wait, the restaurants and landscapers and hotels don’t pay you enough money to do the job. I feel sorry for those that approach the issue emotionally and not factually. Partisan politics is the problem, not the solution. All sides.
Well said. ICE is upholding our nation’s laws and their first targets are illegals that have warrants out for their arrests and deportation. Any business owner or local that sides witih convicted felons, on the run from authorities, most likely don’t care anything about upholding the law or the consequences of having such people freely roaming our streets.
So the businesses who take advantage of immigrants by paying sub-minimum wage, should be detained in unknown locations for illegal hiring practices. And the disabled father who thinks ICE raids are immoral should go work as a landscaper because he doesn’t agree with what’s happening? Your argument, I’m sorry… it’s absurd.
I expect we will see more of this. ICE has a multi billion dollar budget for hiring. This season’s South Park episode 2 demonstrates where this is going and it ain’t pretty. Unfortunately people voted for this because of their anger at the open border policy of the previous regime. Extreme politics are bad for both parties and worse yet for anyone caught in the middle.
The law is the law and no exception should be made. If you are here illegally, you must go home.
Would that be like how the law is the law for the guy in the White House who has 34 felony convictions and judgments for more than $80 million for sexually molesting E. Jean Carroll and then defaming her by repeatedly lying about it? Would that be how the law is the law for all the folks who assaulted cops and defiled the Capitol on Jan. 6 and then got pardoned?
But oh yeah, the law is the law for lots of hard-working people just trying to make a better life for themselves in a country that was built by wave after wave of immigrants, every one of which was bad mouthed at the time.
Thank you for your rebuttal Lee J Siegel.
I completely agree👍
Question: If the “ICE vehicles” are unmarked and the men are masked without official ID, how do we know they are actually ICE officers? There have been recent cases where citizens have scared off fake ICE police. Posers. Phony bully thrill seekers.
Question 2: If the true ICE officers wear a mask and refuse to show valid official ID, what are they afraid of? They aren’t raiding drug houses. They are raiding restaurants and garden centers and schools. Maybe they are hiding their faces because they know their unaccountable actions are morally wrong. And they are ashamed.
They have begun wearing masks because there are people who want to learn the officer’s names and post their faces publicly so the officers and their families/children/homes can be threatened, vandalized, harmed and put in danger which is also morally wrong.
And maybe someone should find out the facts, not understandable emotional reactions and observations from some bystanders, about why the person was wanted by ICE. It is quite possible there are warrants or past criminal activity the person is or was involved in and, no matter their immigration status, should be detained. I get it, there are good people being detained, but that’s not always the case. More facts please.
ICE is doing what federal law allows. Not Trump’s little personal squad. Most if not all the comments come from people that suffer from TDS. If this was done by Biden, the same people would be supporting it. Especially to think people turn a blind eye to law violations solely due to their hatred for one man. Now, about Newport’s police department comments. Police chiefs can be fired by City Councils or mayors. Sheriffs not so. Thats why chiefs should by elected as well. God bless all our law enforcement including ICE.
That is the absolute truth. Thank you
Being in the U.S.A. illegally is by definition, criminal. I agree the system has problems, but getting rid of criminals is a good start.
You are absolutely wrong. Being an illegal immigrant in the United States is a civil violation, not a criminal violation.
The convicted felon in the White House said he was going to go after violent criminals among immigrants. Like most of everything else he says, that was a lie. Busting hard-working people trying to get day labor jobs at Home Depot, working in agricultural fields, etc is not going after criminals. It’s going after hardworking people trying to make a better life and who are not doing anything that is criminal.