Guatemalan blueberry pickers detained by ICE in targeted arrests near Woodburn, attorneys say

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Legal advocates are sounding the alarm after they say Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested a group of farmworkers near Woodburn on their way to work Thursday morning.

According to Innovation Law Lab, the group was detained at around 6 a.m. while en route to blueberry picking work in Canby. They allege ICE agents broke the driver’s side window of the workers’ van, “swarmed the van and ultimately detained four workers–three men and one woman–while releasing two other women and a teenage girl.”

The blueberry pickers live in Woodburn and are members of the Mam Nation, Indigenous to Guatemala, Innovation Law Lab noted.

Community members who witnessed the detainment called the Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition, which led to Innovation Law Lab advocates responding to the Portland ICE facility where the workers were detained.

According to Oregon for All, a network of immigrant justice advocacy groups, ICE officials refused to give the attorneys access.

“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 said they were eventually able to speak to a spouse of one of the workers, learning he’d fled Guatemala and sought asylum to escape the people who murdered his brother. Innovation Law Lab attorneys filed a habeas corpus petition on his behalf on Friday, noting, “He was released from immigration custody in early 2024 and has since fully complied with all legal requirements while pursuing his asylum claim.”

Given similar targeted ICE arrests in Yamhill County, Oregon for All is warning this could threaten the state’s food supply, as immigrants account for over 30% of agricultural workers.

Additionally, the American Immigration Council states immigrants make up almost 62% of farm laborers who plant crops, harvest by hand, prune and more.

“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 who also advocates for working Latinx families. “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.”

KOIN 6 News has reached out to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for comment. This story will be updated if we hear back.