Recently, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in the United States suddenly appeared in the parking lot of a food processing plant in Oregon while pursuing an undocumented immigrant. The factory erupted in panic, with dozens of workers fleeing into the nearby woods through the back door.
According to a report by OregonLive on Saturday, the incident took place at the NORPAC company, a fruit and vegetable processing enterprise located in Brooks, Oregon.
Danny Paniagua, the human resources coordinator at the plant, revealed that on the afternoon of the 8th, with only 3 hours left before the end of the shift, news spread rapidly about ICE personnel showing up in the parking lot, causing around 300 day-shift workers in the factory to panic.
Approximately 30 workers ran out of the factory through the back gate, crossed a field, and sought refuge in the nearby woods.
Paniagua mentioned that he saw two black SUVs entering the parking lot from the left side and another two from the right side. Subsequently, sirens blared, police lights flashed, and they intercepted a red car.
The car was driven by a woman with a male passenger. Law enforcement officers handcuffed the woman and took her into one of the SUVs. Paniagua believed that neither of the two people in the red car were employees of the factory.
He noted that the black cars had dark tinted windows with no license plates. The law enforcement officers also covered their faces when getting out of the vehicles. He deduced that they were immigration enforcement officers.
Regarding the incident, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) disclosed on Saturday that Albertina Villafana Piedra, originally from Mexico, was detained during a “targeted enforcement operation” on October 8th.
The spokesperson mentioned that Villafana Piedra illegally entered the country on June 30, 2012, and had previously illegally entered California in August 2001, before being granted voluntary return to Mexico.
Emphasizing that her case will be reviewed by an immigration judge and she will receive due legal process.
After the law enforcement officers left, Paniagua, along with some supervisors, walked to the woods behind the plant and called out to the hiding workers to come back. He described that some were crying, some were making phone calls, and some wanted to go home immediately.
Paniagua stated that about 20 workers left early in the afternoon after the incident, and a similar number of employees took leave for the mid-shift at 3:00 p.m. and the night shift at 11:00 p.m.
He mentioned that many of the workers at the plant are contract workers hired through temporary agencies, with the majority being hardworking Hispanic workers.
He pointed out that the company supplies products to enterprises such as Starbucks, Fred Meyer, Safeway, Target, and Walmart. Due to the lack of staff, the production line could not operate normally on Thursday, leading to potential delays in product delivery, creating a “domino effect.”
In recent times, immigration arrests in Oregon have been on the rise, with federal officials confirming last week that enforcement in so-called sanctuary jurisdictions will be intensified.
According to a local immigrant advocacy activist, this week, illegal immigrants at the ABC Supply Co. Inc. in Salem and a landscaping company were also detained at their workplace.