ICE Arrests Blueberry Pickers En Route to Fields near Woodburn, Denies Legal Access

by KYAQ Staff

According to a press release from Oregon for All, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested a group of farmworkers near Woodburn on their way to work early yesterday morning, Thursday, August 7th, according to witnesses and legal advocates.

The group was initially detained around 6 a.m. on August 7 near Woodburn as they traveled toward Canby for blueberry picking work, according to the release. ICE agents swarmed the van and ultimately detained four workers–three men and one woman–while releasing two other women and a teenage girl. Witnesses reported that ICE agents broke the driver’s side window of the workers’ van, and photos document the damage.

“ICE is terrorizing the very people who feed our communities, targeting farmworkers in their own neighborhoods on their way to work,” said Reyna Lopez, executive director of PCUN, Oregon’s farmworker union. “These tactics will only scare folks from working during the peak harvest. This not only affects farmworkers’ ability to support their families, but also the many growers who rely on migrant labor and our collective ability to put food on our tables.”

The detained blueberry pickers are members of the Mam Nation, Indigenous to Guatemala, who live in Woodburn, according to the release.

Community members who witnessed the incident called the Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition (PIRC) hotline and were able to deploy community support to assess the incident. This response is part of Oregon for All’s rapid response network, where advocates and community members are working together to help immigrant Oregonians.

Legal advocates from the Innovation Law Lab immediately responded to the Portland ICE facility where the workers were detained. ICE officials, however, refused to grant attorneys access.

“Imagine being arrested, unable to understand what’s happening, and cut off from legal help,” said Puma Tzoc, director of the Collective of Indigenous Interpreters of Oregon at Pueblo Unido. “As Mam speakers, these workers face additional barriers in understanding their rights and accessing legal help. This is a violation of their rights. We demand that they respect our Indigenous nations.”

“ICE’s refusal to allow attorneys to speak with people who are detained violates basic due process rights,” said Isa Peña, director of strategy at Innovation Law Lab. “We’re seeing a pattern: ICE acts with impunity, and communities are left to pick up the pieces.”

Attorneys were able to speak to the spouse of one of the workers and file an emergency habeas corpus petition yesterday.

This is not an isolated incident. In June, the Oregon Farm Bureau raised alarms after similar ICE arrests in Yamhill County, warning that immigration enforcement threatens the state’s food supply. “If we don’t have workers, we don’t get people fed,” spokesperson Austin McClister told OPB at the time.

KYAQ contacted Immigration and Customs Enforcement to verify the details of the raid but have not received a response.