With reports of immigration detentions rising and school year approaching, Oregon advocates seek strategies to protect children

Last school year, Roosevelt High School principal KD Parman said immigration and customs enforcement agents frequented the neighborhood around the high school.

“They came on Thursdays to North Portland,” Parman said.

Parman joined representatives from the Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition, Latino Network, and others for a roundtable discussion with U.S. Rep. Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.) to discuss how heightened federal immigration enforcement continues across Oregon.

There are already signs that detentions are increasing this summer. PIRC coordinator Alyssa Walker Keller said her organization received more detention calls in June than any other month this year, though the reported numbers didn’t reach the highs during “Operation Black Rose” last fall.

“People are increasingly concerned about the escalating detentions and the fact that last month had more detentions this year than any other month is something we all should be paying attention to,” Dexter said.

Nationally, immigration arrests appear to be up again, with the New York Times reporting more than 10,000 arrests over a five-day period last month. Two people were killed by ICE agents during two early July traffic stops in Maine and Texas.

A regional ICE spokesperson did not respond to OPB’s specific questions about increased detentions in 2026. They instead directed OPB to a government website that reports over 500 arrests in Portland from January 26, 2025 to May 26, 2026. The website also reports 122 arrests in Hillsboro and 72 arrests in Eugene for a similar time frame.

School isn’t back in session for another month, but Parman is already preparing for another year of fear for students at Roosevelt High. Parman described one day last school year when a parent was detained as they dropped off their children, a couple of blocks away from the school.

The two agents refused to identify themselves, she recalled. Neighbors came out and blew their whistles, and Parman got a phone call that ICE agents were down the street.

“As they were leaving, they shot pepper balls onto the ground and hit multiple kids and community members with pepper spray,” Parman said.

At Tuesday’s roundtable in Northeast Portland, Dexter asked for ideas on what should be done to mitigate the impacts of federal immigration enforcement actions on families and children.

“We’re just trying to make sure that those resources are built up because if we are not a web that’s functioning well together, we will not be able to support what’s coming,” said Walker Keller with PIRC.

Tuesday’s discussion highlighted the ongoing need for training and patrols for young people in particular, especially with the new school year starting next month.

“We have students who for over a year have been taken to school by volunteers to make sure that they get to school safely and teachers meeting them at the steps to walk them in,” Parman said.

At the same time, the legal support for those arrested by ICE is at risk due to payment delays by the Trump administration. A funding stream for Oregon’s Immigration Counseling Service dedicated to helping children is set to expire in just a few days. Invoices for other contracts have been unpaid for months.

Frank Garcia, executive director of ICS, said the agency has 2,500 open cases, including 175 involving unaccompanied minors.

“The limited sources that we have are being drained,” Garcia said. “We’re being starved into submission.”

Last month, Dexter introduced the Dignity and Due Process for Children Act, which would prevent ICE from detaining children who are alone or without a parent. She recalled a visit to juvenile court in Texas, where she saw young children defending themselves, sometimes with only a caseworker present.

“We’ve created cruel barriers to children having safety and stability,” Dexter said.

Under the current administration, the federal approach to immigration enforcement is unlikely to change. While the Department of Homeland Security says it’s focused on removing “criminals” and “immigration violators” from the country, its enforcement operations have been more broad, often rounding up people without criminal histories.

Dexter has flown or driven to detention centers all over the country, a tactic other politicians have taken in the face of heightened immigration enforcement. She helped a Gresham family return home after three weeks in a Texas detention facility. Dexter said she uses her political capacity to show up for her district.

“When I flew to El Salvador, my husband was worried, he was like ‘will you get put in jail?’” Dexter recalled. “And I was like, ‘well if anybody tries to detain a member of Congress trying to do their job, then it will create attention, and that is a risk I need to take.’”

Immigration activists say they remain concerned about the continuing emotional toll of detentions and immigration news on young people. Figueroa shared a recent experience, where high schoolers in a Latino Network summer program on a walking field trip spotted someone in a van filming. They later learned it was not ICE, but private security. But she said it turned a celebratory trip into a fearful one.

“Kids have a right to an education and kids have a right to joy and families have a right to safety,” Figueroa said.

Frances Portillo started the nonprofit Familias Unidas Siempre to provide support and trainings for families and youth. Portillo brings a bag full of materials for each participant, including a book, “Tengo Miedo (I’m scared).” At the end of the training, she has parents write letters to their children.

“This is not a past trauma,” Portillo said. “This is a continuing trauma.”

Advocates say they’re seeing new things to worry about. Last week, Oregon State Police announced an investigation of individuals who allegedly impersonated ICE agents and assaulted a person they pulled over. Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek released a statement earlier this week, saying she was disturbed by the incident. Dexter was upset by it too.

“It is so offensive to me in this country where the rule of law is supposed to be what we can all rely on that our own government has eroded it to such a degree that nobody’s safe,” Dexter said.

“It’s exactly what we have feared,” Figueroa said.