A group of elected officials in one of Oregon’s most racially diverse counties pushed back Monday against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

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“ICE has no place in our neighborhoods,” said Cornelius City Councilor Angeles Godinez, one of several Washington County officials who sought to call out anti-immigrant rhetoric they say has caused a climate of fear.

“When fear enters our community, trust leaves,” she said. “Without trust, our schools, our cities and even our local economies suffer.”

Across the country, ramped-up enforcement has sparked protests against immigration arrests, often carried out by masked federal officers. In Portland, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained several asylum seekers after they showed up to required hearings at immigration court. Those arrests appear to be part of a policy shift by the Trump administration to speed up deportations.

Since becoming president again, Trump has signed a number of executive orders aimed at making good on his campaign promise to deport millions of people who are in the U.S. without legal status.

Juan Carlos Gonzalez, Angeles Godinez, Yi-Kang Hu, and Nafisa Fai were among the elected officials who represent Washington County who pushed back Monday against federal immigration enforcement.

Juan Carlos Gonzalez, Angeles Godinez, Yi-Kang Hu, and Nafisa Fai were among the elected officials who represent Washington County who pushed back Monday against federal immigration enforcement.

Conrad Wilson / OPB

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“Even those who say ‘do it the legal way’ must reckon with the truth that there are people doing it the legal way, showing up to appointments, following every rule and they’re still being detained, profiled or unjustly arrested,” Godinez said.

Some of the elected officials who spoke Monday outside Centro Cultural in Cornelius took the opportunity to share their own stories.

“To the immigrant community across Oregon, I am one of you, I see you. I know what you’re going through and I stand with you in unwavering solidarity,” Tigard City Councilor Ti-Kang Hu said. “I know what it feels like to carry the weight of two cultures. To translate for your parents at the doctor’s office, to worry about your immigration status.”

Hu reminded those gathered that Asian immigrants have long faced discrimination, mostly recently during the COVID-19 pandemic. But they’re far from alone, Hu said, noting immigrants from all backgrounds have had to endure barriers and xenophobia.

“To every member of our immigrant community: You belong here, your life matters, your story matters and your presence makes our cities and our counties stronger,” Hu said.

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Washington County Commissioner Nafisa Fai said she arrived as a refugee in America after escaping civil war in Somalia.

“My family fled not for comfort, but for survival,” Fai said. “We crossed borders under moonlight. A refugee camp became our home, and we prayed for a second chance. America, more specifically Oregon, was that second chance.”

Fai said she often wonders what would have happened if her family had not made it out of Somalia. She said her experience is a reminder that behind every debate about immigration policy is a human story.

When people fear the government, Fai warned, they stop calling the police to report crimes, they no longer seek medical care and disappear from public life.

“That makes us all less safe. This is not about national politics. This is about who we are right here in Washington County,” she said.

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The county has dealt with fears over safety related to immigration enforcement before. In 2020, during the first Trump administration, Washington County said it would comply with subpoenas from ICE that went beyond typical ICE detainers. At that time, the agency sought information about people being held in the jail so it could make arrests.

Federal officers guard the entrance to the ICE facility in SW Portland on June 14, 2025. Earlier in the evening, DHS officers clashed with protesters, firing crowd control munitions into the crowd, which threw objects back at the building. After some attempts, protesters eventually broke through the front door to the facility.

Federal officers guard the entrance to the ICE facility in SW Portland on June 14, 2025. Earlier in the evening, DHS officers clashed with protesters, firing crowd control munitions into the crowd, which threw objects back at the building. After some attempts, protesters eventually broke through the front door to the facility.

Conrad Wilson / OPB

During the past several weeks, immigration enforcement has also led to unrest in Portland, where protests have regularly occurred outside an ICE office. At times, those demonstrations have turned violent as officers fired noxious gas canisters, rubber bullets and other less lethal weapons into the crowds. Officers with the Department of Homeland Security, as well as the Portland Police Bureau, have arrested protesters.

Several of Monday’s speakers invoked Oregon’s decades-old sanctuary law, which prevents local and state resources from being used to enforce federal immigration law. In the years since, the state has strengthened the law and expanded protections for immigrants.

Godinez, the city councilor from Cornelius, said the city would “not be agents of ICE.”

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“We are not here to divide families,” she said. “We are here to serve them.”