‘There will be another family’: Newberg family scrutinizes feds over father’s detention

NEWBERG — Juan Miguel Aldape pays his taxes annually, he is a devout Catholic and he is a caregiver for his youngest son with autism, his relatives say. He’s lived with his wife for 22 years in Newberg, the wine country town where they chose to raise their family. 

Federal immigration agents detained him on Aug. 24, despite Aldape having no criminal history and the arrest, in a hardware store parking lot, occurring without a warrant.

Aldape’s story, which his relatives and immigration rights advocates shared Thursday, is similar to those of many immigrants who have lived in Oregon for decades. As the Trump administration has ramped up its immigration enforcement efforts, Aldape, now detained in Louisiana, is one of many who has been transferred thousands of miles away without access to a lawyer or a way to contact their relatives.

Unidos Bridging Community, a Latino advocacy nonprofit based in Yamhill County, hosted a press conference Thursday to highlight Aldape’s story at the Chehalem Cultural Community Center, where residents of the town of roughly 26,000 typically gather for concerts, summer camps and art classes.

Masked immigration agents arrested Aldape in a Lowe’s parking lot in nearby McMinnville while he was buying materials for a construction job. The agents took him to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center in Portland, where he was able to briefly call his family and let them know he was detained. 

His family spent days scouring federal detention databases, repeatedly calling immigration detention facilities across the country and trying to hire a lawyer. They haven’t been able to speak to him since Aug. 26. 

“How do you explain to a minor with special needs that his father was taken by ICE?” his daughter-in-law Ashleen Aldape said to the crowd of dozens of community members, volunteers and reporters. “His dad is his best friend, his rock and his inspiration. His son should be excited that he’s a senior in high school. His grandkids, ages five and under, ask for their Papa Juan every day.”

The family is asking that the federal government allow their father to communicate with them and that it offer accurate, timely information about a detained individual’s whereabouts. 

Aldape was detained the same week as Fidel Cordero Garcia, a Woodburn father whose son entered the U.S. Marines with the goal of helping his family get their green card. His son was one week away from turning 21, when he would have been eligible to petition for his father’s green card, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported. 

“This is not simply about Juan Aldape and Fidel Cordero Garcia,” said Debbie Cabrales, executive director of Centro de Servicios para Campesinos, an organization that provides services to farmworkers and other immigrants. “Because unless we are willing to confront the system that allows this to happen, there will be another family, another transfer, another child waiting for their parent to come home and another attorney struggling to locate their client.”

A federal judge blocked warrantless arrests in Oregon. This family says it’s still happening.

In February, a federal judge blocked federal immigration agents from making warrantless arrests in Oregon, joining Washington, D.C., and Colorado with similar rules in place. 

The lawsuit applies to Oregonians who have been or are subjected to a warrantless arrest by ICE, the judge ruled in July.

The decision came after Innovation Law Lab, a Portland-based and immigration-focused law firm, sued over what it calls the federal government’s “arrest first, justify later” policy, saying it causes irreparable harm to detained individuals and their families. 

“As lawyers in the case, we are very concerned that the government is not obeying the judge’s order,” said Stephen Manning, the law firm’s executive director. “We have heard many troubling reports from members of the community about ICE conduct that appears to violate the order.”

Aldape’s family said agents didn’t have a warrant when they arrested their father. 

ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Oregon Capital Chronicle. 

Aldape was taken to the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma the day after his arrest.  His daughter-in-law and niece traveled there the next day to remind him of his rights and show support, but they said employees met them with disrespect and sarcasm. 

“Once I gave the front desk information needed to visit him, the lady told me he isn’t in the system anymore. That he’s been released,” his daughter-in-law told the crowd. “When I asked what that meant, the lady simply replied, ‘I’m not really sure what that means. He could have been deported, transferred or let go.’” 

They went back to the Tacoma facility the next day, only to be told that he was on his way to a detention center in Louisiana. It’s been a week since they were able to last contact him. An ICE database confirmed he is at the Richwood Correctional Center in Louisiana. 

Unidos Programs Director Jose Garcia read a letter to the crowd from Aldape’s eldest son, who said his parents came to the U.S. to provide a better life for their kids. The son did not share his name.

“It hurts a lot to know that the person who was doing everything for his family was taken from us, and it hurts more that he was sent far away from our family to Louisiana,” he said in the letter. “My prayers are with the families that have someone detained in one of these highest detention facilities, and may God keep them strong, healthy and well while they fight for their loved ones.”

The Aldape family has set up a GoFundMe to help them as they navigate the loss of their main financial support. 

“I’m grateful to Juan Miguel’s family for coming forward to share their story,” U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas, who represents Oregon’s Willamette Valley-based 6th Congressional District and is the daughter of an immigrant farmworker, said in a statement. “Every Oregonian deserves to understand exactly who is hurt by Trump’s cruel and inhumane immigration policies.” 

Salinas said she is doing everything she can to support the family by working with Unidos, the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana and her Democratic colleagues from Louisiana to contact Aldape and connect him with legal support.