Rowan Campbell

An anti-ice mask was placed down by a protester. On Saturday Oct. 18, NO KINGS Eugene Unite and Resist: A Call to Action protest was held in Eugene, Ore. (Rowan Campbell/Emerald)

A crowd gathered around Southridge High School in Beaverton, Ore. with protestors holding various signs that read, “bring Paulino home,” “bring our neighbors home” and “stop the kidnapping.” The crowd aimed to raise attention for Paulino Martin San Pedro, who was taken by Immigration and Customs Enforcement off the street and deported within the span of three days — timing which is not sufficient to meet the requirements of due process.

The arbitrary kidnappings by ICE officials have riddled Oregon’s Washington County, with an estimated 300 individuals taken from its communities. These arrests often don’t meet requirements for due process, and without proper communication to family members, many are often unaware when ICE takes a family member.

Paulino’s story is unfortunately not unique to Beaverton; with ICE arrests and ICE activity being increasingly reported in Lane County, this follows the national trend of arbitrary arrests by federal officers.

“We are gathered here today to honor and recognize the lives in our neighborhoods impacted by the terror of federal agents, masked and unwilling to show warrants, abducting our community members, Barbie Minor said at the opening of the protest. “This is not justice, this is terror — this is not democracy, this is fascism.”

All persons — regardless of citizenship status — are privy to certain rights, such as the right to representation under a lawyer, the right to remain silent and the right to ask for a legitimate warrant for arrests. You also have the right to request the agent or officer to show you proper identification.

But unfortunately, these basic standards are repeatedly violated within the haphazard deportation processes, with multiple documented cases where due process was not met. Without access to due process, masked officers are arguably kidnapping and deporting community members off the streets.

“Today is not about my father,” Eric Martin, Paulino Martin’s son, said in his official address to the crowd. “It’s about everyone who’s being affected today by ICE… no child, no parent and no neighbor should face the kind of heartbreak that we faced the past couple of days.”

The disappearances from their communities have rattled local governments, and they have been unable to take any action to protect their cities against arbitrary arrests. Aside from ordinances and largely performative statements, local governments have failed to take action against federal forces.

Due to the supremacy clause within the U.S. Constitution — which states that when state or local law conflicts with federal law, the federal law supersedes it — local governments haven’t been able to challenge any of ICE’s policies around deportation directly. But this doesn’t stop local governments from doing everything in their power to investigate ICE practices and hold them accountable.

By working with the limitations of the supremacy clause of the Constitution, local governments can investigate violations of state or city law — the point being that all local government enforcement can still cite federal agencies for breaking state law.

“Currently, ICE is running around with impunity right now because they can; there are no repercussions for them,” Blayne Soleymani-Pearson, a current candidate for Washington County Commissioner, said. “The idea is that we legally put obstacles in their way, and we work within the confines of the law to slow them down, stop them and make their jobs harder.”

One example Pearson cited was suspected ICE vehicles swapping license plates and driving cars that don’t match their registration, which is a traffic violation in Oregon. Local governments can then cite these offences against federal officers and force them to work within the confines of the law, adding guardrails and legal obstacles to slow down the rampant arrests.

Law enforcement should investigate violations regardless of whether the individuals are federal officers. It’s important to hold local enforcement accountable for the role they can play in holding ICE responsible for blatant lawbreaking, even if it starts with traffic citations.