Luis Lamas gazes out the window of the home in Woodburn where he rents a room, May 14, 2025. Lamas is a Mexican citizen who came into the United States in 2021 and overstayed his temporary tourist visa, and is now returning to Mexico voluntarily.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
This is the English version of this podcast episode. Haga clic aquí para escuchar en español.
Luis Lamas left Oregon out of fear.
“I don’t want to find out if they’re going to put me in a detention center or if I’m going to live so many more years [here] and be told, you know what, no, you have to go back to your country,” he said in Spanish.
Lamas is among a growing number of people choosing to leave the U.S. out of fear of arrest or detention, as the Trump administration has promised to arrest or deport anyone without lawful status. Immigrants with lawful status have also been detained.
In this week’s episode of “The Evergreen,” we’re revisiting a story from OPB reporter Alejandro Figueroa that chronicles the journey of Luis Lamas, a Mexican immigrant who once called Woodburn home.
This episode was recently recognized by the National Association of Hispanic Journalists with a 1st place Ñ Award for podcast journalism.
Listen to all episodes of “The Evergreen” podcast here.
