Residents ask Springfield for due process, protection from ICE

Presenter:  The Springfield City Council listened to public comments Monday night, and KEPW News was there. 

Lupe Anguiano: My name is Lupe Anguiano and I live here in Springfield. I host La Que Buena 97.7 FM Spanish radio station.

[00:00:14] My listeners are the essential workers, the parents and the families who are the backbone of this city. I’m here as a voice from my community facing fear and threat.

[00:00:26] The recent ICE actions are an assault to our neighbors, to our families, to my community. And I don’t not just hearing stories not just watching it on social media, but I’m hearing the desperation in their voices, the fear that is stopping parents from going to work in peace and keeping children at home.

[00:00:42] This is a moral crisis that is leaving trauma with our kids in our communities, our youth, and we need real leadership right now. And with all due respect, many of you have chosen silence. And silence is not leadership.

[00:00:57] What do we need– more families to be torn apart– for something to be done? We are here to say that we are not disposable and we will no longer tolerate this.

[00:01:07] Springfield must uphold its moral commitment to every resident no matter their status, no matter of their color of their skin.

[00:01:14] And we demand immediate policy shifts: state of emergency, sanctuary resolution, end of Flock surveillance cameras, and real -time alerts, resources for the communities and families who are being impacted.

[00:01:26] Mayor and Council, your choice is simple. Stand with us, our families of Springfield, or stand with the forces that are tearing them apart. We need your help and support, protection to be accountable and ensure that no more family members is taken from our city. And we will not stop until our voices are hurt and we will keep coming and ask for support and help.

[00:01:47] And tonight when you go to your families and you celebrate Christmas this December, I’m asking you to please look at your kids and your families and put yourself in our shoes. Imagine trying to drive to work, trying to make ends meet for your family, and fear if you’re going to be taken away just because of the color of your skin, not knowing if you’re going to see your children again.

[00:02:10] Because this is what our families, this is what our communities are living, this is real and is having a huge impact on our community. So we’re asking for your support and this is all. 

[00:02:20] Alex Tadeo: My name is Alex Tadeo. I’m 17 years old. This is not my first time I’ve come to speak. When I was around eight years old, I stood right here during the fight to end ice, the ICE contract. I was just a kid scared that my family and my friends were going to get taken away, and I was hoping that fear was just gonna leave, hoping that fear would not come back.

[00:02:45] And now all of a sudden I’m scared to even walk outside or realize I’m gonna get called from my parents, my siblings, and find out that they’re getting taken away, getting deported. I’m just scared from just my friends for my community ’cause. Our community is supposed to be somewhere we could feel safe, not where we should be feared.

[00:03:09] Springfield, I’ve lived here my whole life and I always thought this place as a safe place. This is always my go-to spot. It’s my safe spot where I can just relax, but all of a sudden I’m getting so much fear from just being here. It’s like it’s not even Springfield anymore. 

[00:03:32] M: Hello. My name is M, but my name is not important. What matters is that I come from an immigrant family and my family has now been in the United States three generations—we’ve called the beautiful state of Oregon our home for the last 18 years. I’m also a mother of four children, all born and raised here, who are now becoming young adults and are being directly impacted by what is happening in our community.

[00:03:58] I’m here today because ICE activity has created fear and confusion throughout our neighborhoods. My family, my neighbors, my people—the people I love are being affected.

[00:04:07] And whether or not someone has directly had contact with ICE, just the fear alone harms entire communities. It tears families apart emotionally, long before the physical happens.

[00:04:19] Even after three generations in this country, that fear still echoes.

[00:04:23] I know what it feels like to live with uncertainty, to feel like the ground can be pulled out from under you at any moment, and not to know if the people you care about will be safe and will be home for dinner.

[00:04:34] No family in Springfield or Eugene should have to live with that fear. No child should have to wonder if their parent will come home. And no community should be kept in the dark about what’s happening in our own streets.

[00:04:45] My children grew up here and this is their home. They go to school here and they work here. They contribute to this city. We all volunteer as a family. And now as they step into adulthood, they’re watching friends, neighbors, and families live in fear.

[00:04:58] They’re watching the community they love shift to a place where people don’t feel safe calling for help or going about their daily lives. That is not the Oregon I have raised my children in for nearly two decades now.

[00:05:11] This matters to all of us because when people are afraid to go to work, to take their kids to school, or even to call for help, our entire city becomes not safe. Fear does not build strong communities. Transparency and protection does.

[00:05:26] Springfield and Eugene say they value family safety and community Well, now is the moment to show that those values really do mean something to us.

[00:05:34] So today I’m asking the mayor and city council to protect our families, be transparent with the public and take immediate action.

[00:05:41] And I’m joining my community in to call the following urgent demands: Declare a state emergency. Publicly guarantee zero cooperation with ICE. Pass the Springfield sanctuary resolution. End Flock cameras and surveillance systems. Require ICE to identify themselves to local police. Provide real-time public alerts when ICE is active. Fund local community support organizations. Create emergency family protection fund for families taken by ICE. And fund the library, not Flock cameras.

[00:06:12] These steps will truly keep families informed and supported, including long -standing families like mine, and many other immigrant families who make this community vibrant, hardworking, and very strong.

[00:06:24] Timothy: My name is Timothy. I am a project specialist with the organization called Plaza de Nuestra They have an office here in Springfield that provides social services, education, family services, mental health therapy.

[00:06:35] A lot of the community members are scared that they’re not going to come home, their family members are not going to come home.

[00:06:42] And if we look at the nationwide data of the ICE detentions recently, the majority of people don’t have criminal records. They’re targeting our families, our friends, our community members, people who make our community what it is.

[00:06:56] So I’m asking you all to pass a sanctuary resolution, also to require that ICE agents can’t use face masks and that they have to be able to identify themselves properly and that you all guarantee no cooperation with ICE or border patrol and uphold the Oregon sanctuary policies and also to reinforce it with your own sanctuary resolution, and yeah.

[00:07:23] There’s going to be a lot of comments that touch a similar vein tonight and I just really want you to think carefully about the situation we’re in today and also just take a look at the historical record of how Oregon has used immigrants and have targeted immigrants and I’ve tried to create protection for immigrants and then target them again and we really have to end that cycle and really have to create protection for people and for families and for the people who make this state what it is. 

[00:07:52] Donna Riddle: Donna Riddle. And I’m here speaking as a person who has white privilege, but I’m also speaking as a person, a mom of a brown child who I have a lot of fear in my heart because I’m worried that ICE might grab him, even though he’s a Native American and is more American than any of the rest of us here. But ISIS grabbing people who are brown and they’re deporting them.

[00:08:33] And I really want to hear Springfield weigh in on the fact that we are a sanctuary city, that brown people shouldn’t be afraid to go to school or go to the grocery store or just live their lives without feeling that they might be arrested and deported without any process.

[00:09:05] So please, please speak up and acknowledge that this is a sanctuary county. It’s a sanctuary city and we need to hear from you.

[00:09:19] Tom Berglund: Hey, I’m Tom Berglund. I have also, also have grandchildren who are, have a Hispanic father. And I know a lot of people in Springfield. I worked here for 40 years. I’m a descendant of Lost Wagon Train pioneers. I was a Republican for 50 years. I’m just saying, I represent what Springfield was not too long ago.

[00:09:43] But I got to say: I really believe that we in the United States need to follow our Constitution and I think, I always thought that was like Supreme Court stuff. But I really believe that down at the local level that we have things that we can do and say also.

[00:10:01] And I believe in due process and I think that we need to make sure that that is employed at all times in all of the jurisdictions around here.

[00:10:11] I think that search and seizures without any kind of warrant has got to be dealt with and I believe that our police have the power to do that, to deal with that 

[00:10:20] I believe that we are all created equal and that we need to treat everyone with dignity. And dragging people out of cars is not treating them with dignity. I believe that law enforcement must identify themselves, wear something, so, you know, you’re not being kidnapped, right? (to officer): Thank you very much for not wearing a mask, (for wearing a) name tag. Appreciate that.

[00:10:44] And in America, I believe that we do not stop people based on their color or other physical characteristics. So I just say, and I was going to invoke white privilege also, I want to leverage what white privilege I have and say that I want us as a community to stand behind the Hispanic community in resistance to these unjust intrusions into the heart of their community. Our schools. That’s where I’ve heard of the most fear. Our schools, where the kids are. Come on.

[00:11:24] And the resentment is building toward the federal government. And I don’t want us, our town, our local communities, to be part of that.

[00:11:34] Amanda: I’m Amanda. I live a couple blocks from here. I come to you as a neighbor and as a mental health therapist who supports local families. I’m reporting back from the front lines of suffering in our communities, and I must tell you, I cannot do my job until you do yours.

[00:11:52] Last September, the Supreme Court issued an order that allowed ICE agents to stop anyone they assumed to be here illegally simply because of the color of their skin, the language they speak, or the job they have.

[00:12:05] This means that every single Black and brown resident of Springfield has become a target of these unknown masked agents who are ripping folks off the street and sending them to countries they aren’t even from or disappearing them altogether.

[00:12:19] I repeat, I cannot do my job until you do yours.

[00:12:23] I cannot help children manage their anxiety when their parents might be kidnapped on their way to pick them up from school. I cannot help adults manage their depression and hopelessness when they are watching their families and neighbors disappear one by one without so much as a breath of resistance from their leaders.

[00:12:39] How am I supposed to help folks recover from PTSD when they’re actively taking on more trauma every time they leave their house and have to fear for their lives because of the color of their skin?

[00:12:49] Our community deserve strong leaders that will take a stand against authoritarianism and racism. We demand that you declare a state of emergency and implement a public alert system about ICE activity.

[00:13:00] We demand that you keep Flock, a corporate-owned mass surveillance company, out of our beautiful city. We don’t have to wait to see how Flock will harm our communities. We can already see that Flock data has been misused in high profile cases, like in Texas, where a police officer used the system to search for a woman who had an abortion, and a police chief who allegedly used it to track his ex -wife.

[00:13:23] I understand the desire to reduce crime in our communities, but Flock and ICE have nothing to do with what keeps our communities safer—73.6 % of folks who are held in ICE detention have no criminal conviction. And many of those that do, it’s just minor offenses, like traffic offenses.

[00:13:43] What actually reduces crime and protects our communities is giving people access to resources like food and shelter and having their back when racist mass thugs threaten to steal our families.

[00:13:53] In fact, one of the most powerful things we could do to reduce crime in our community is fully fund the library. Researchers have found that as library funding per person went up, this was a study done from 1995 to 2016, national crime rates dropped by almost the exact same amount. There’s lots of studies. Y ‘all can look this up.

[00:14:13] History has its eyes on you, councilors. What will our children say about our bravery or our cowardice? Will they hold their head up high and tell stories of how we came together to keep each other safe? Or will they speak in hushed tones about our shameful silence? You choose today.

[00:14:30] Johanis Tadeo: My name is Johanis Tadeo and I’m here because our community is living in fear and because your silence has made the fear worse. Families in Springfield have been terrorized, ICE has been back in our neighborhoods, causing harm. Kids are scared to go to school, as you heard. Parents are afraid to go to work.

[00:14:46] Neighbors are driving each other’s children just to keep families safe. Families have received threatening letters in September saying they’re being watched and their children are being watched, and if you care for your child that you should go back to your country. One letter said, Do it or we’ll do it for you. You don’t belong here. We’re we are seeing you now.

[00:15:06] This is happening in Springfield. These letters were reported and you know about them because we have contacted you about them. Then on Nov. 5 and Nov. 19, ICE is back and still, there has been no public statement, no warning, no plan, no words to reassure the families who were targeted.

[00:15:24] The only response was one Facebook post. No follow up contacting families or communicating in Spanish for community members, and that word to see and share.

[00:15:36] Every single family deserves to feel safe in the city and not be kidnapped or worried about being kidnapped. Families are living in fear not because of what they did, but because the city has not acted in response to these ICE actions.

[00:15:48] If this happens again and more families are taken, will you communicate directly with the families harmed? Will that be too late?

[00:15:54] Will you show leadership and stand up against this instead of silence? Tonight our community needs action like you’ve heard from other folks, declare a state of emergency just like other cities have done in the state.

[00:16:07] Publicly guarantee zero police cooperation with ICE. Pass a Springfield sanctuary resolution that is stronger. End Flock cameras and harmful surveillance. Require ICE agents to identify themselves to Springfield Police and provide real-time alerts when ICE is active.

[00:16:25] Fund the library. Our community needs education connection support right now. Create an emergency family protection fund for legal help for families that have been taken.

[00:16:35] Springfield deserves leadership, transparency, and protection, and our families deserve to feel safe in the city. They all call home residents should not feel afraid for being in their skin. 

[00:16:45] Aquí estamos y vamos a seguir. Aquí, no tienen ninguna traductor para que los escuchen a nosotros hablar. Qué triste, 2025.

[00:16:57] Les pido a mi comunidad que sigue que ya no tenga miedo porque o unidos somos fuertes. Y para estar en comunicación con nosotros, estamos a empezar a hablar con uno otro a seguir apoyando uno otro.

[00:17:11] And I ask the City Council to please step up, please hear your residents. Do something. Thank you.

[00:17:19] Presenter: The Springfield City Council heard public comments Dec. 1, and KEPW’s Jana Thrift was there. For more, keep listening to KEPW News on 97.3, Eugene’s PeaceWorks Community Radio.