The Portland Immigrant Rights Coalitionand farmworker advocacy organization Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste say U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained about 30 people in and around Woodburn on Thursday.

The coalition runs a hotline where people can seek resources if someone they know has been detained in Oregon. On Thursday morning, it received reports that multiple carloads of people were detained on their way to work, said Alyssa Walker Keller, coordinator for the coalition.

ICE officials did not respond to a request Thursday to confirm the presence of agents in Woodburn or the number of people the agency detained.

The exact breadth of the detentions wasn’t clear by the end of day, Walker Keller said. The agency had tracked 29 detentions but calls were still trickling in as people realized their loved ones didn’t come home from work.

“This was the largest raid or action like this we’ve seen so far in this administration,” in Oregon she said.

So far in Oregon, most ICE detentions recently have included five or six people at a maximum, Walker Keller said, though a few months ago more than a dozen people were detained in southern Oregon.

PCUN in a statement Thursday evening said that it was “angered” by the news of the Woodburn arrests and more in Washington County.

Walker Keller said the coalition has seen a sharp uptick in reports of detentions throughout the month. Callers have typically reported about 40 to 50 detentions a month, but since mid-October the hotline has received reports of more than 200 detentions, “an escalation like we’ve never seen,” she said.

“Our crew of dispatchers is doing absolutely everything they can to support folks and get them connected to next steps after something like this happens,” she said.

Woodburn School District Superintendent Juan Larios alerted staff to the detentions in an email Thursday morning, saying “several individuals” had been detained by immigration agents in the area. City of Woodburn spokesperson Maricela Guerrero said local police also confirmed ICE agents were in town on Thursday.

“We understand this has created a sense of fear and uncertainty for some of our students, families, and staff,” Larios wrote to staff.

“Please approach today and the days ahead with empathy, compassion and understanding,” he wrote. “Some students may arrive late, appear distracted or be absent altogether. It’s important that we respond with care, support and flexibility.”

In a letter to families, Larios reaffirmed that the district does not help with immigration enforcement and will not allow immigration officials to access any school building beyond the front office.

Walker Keller said the detentions will be “catastrophic” for the families of people detained. They will have to grapple with questions of who is taking care of children, who is paying rent, and who is going to do the work these 31 people intended to do on Thursday.

“That many people disappeared from a community means entire family networks,” she said. “It will have a profound impact on the community for a long time.”

Max Sanchez, a Woodburn High School social studies teacher who is part of a “rapid response team” organized by district staff to respond to immigration enforcement concerns, said in an email Thursday that students and community members feel “traumatized.”

“Today we had many students absent because they were too afraid to come to school,” he wrote. “Families are afraid to leave their homes and are struggling to get their basic essentials. The school staff are doing everything we can to support our students, families, and community during this difficult time.”

This article was originally published by The Oregonian/OregonLive.

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