FILE - On June 7, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained two people and then accessed a gated portion of the port’s Pier 1, seen here.
Katie Frankowicz / KMUN
New details have emerged about a June 7 incident at Port of Astoria property that involved federal immigration officers and triggered concerns about a possible violation of Oregon’s sanctuary law.
On June 7, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained two people, including a longtime Clatsop County resident and business owner, and then accessed a gated portion of the port’s Pier 1. There, community observers on scene reported that officers moved the detained men between vehicles. As officers left the area, a woman approached their vehicles and was pepper-sprayed.
Port officials have generally declined to discuss the incident and ICE’s use of the property in public, citing an ongoing inquiry by the Oregon Department of Justice. Port officials have said they were not aware that ICE officers were in Clatsop County or on port property until events were already in motion.
A spokesperson for the Department of Justice told KMUN the state has yet to receive a response from the port to an inquiry following the incident. Port Executive Director Will Isom, though, says the port has complied with the state’s requests for additional information. Meanwhile, some community members have continued to push for more from the port.
Now documents, including a staff incident report, received through a public records request filed by Innovation Law Lab as part of a lawsuit against ICE, reveal more about what the port says happened that day.
Report details
In the incident report, Matt Hansen, the port’s facility security officer and port authority chief, wrote that he first heard about ICE officers’ presence behind the gated area at Pier 1 around 12:46 p.m. on June 7. Hansen said he immediately contacted the patrolman on duty, who had spoken with a gate guard at the pier.
The gate guard reported that a little after 10 a.m. that day, multiple ICE officers drove into the parking lot at Pier 1, identified themselves and displayed their badges. The guard said he did not allow them into the gated area and instead called the patrolman, who arrived at the Pier 1 gate a few minutes later.
The ICE officers told the patrolman they were being followed and asked to be able to go behind the gate, citing safety reasons. The patrolman then allowed ICE to move behind the gate.
According to Hansen’s report, the patrolman told Hansen he was “trying to keep everyone safe, including the Pier 1 tenants, members of the (U.S. Navy vessel that was docked at the pier) as well as the general public and port staff … .”
A total of six vehicles went behind the gate. The officers stayed in the area for more than an hour. While they were at the pier, other people arrived: concerned citizens and observers who intended to document ICE’s activity.
Hansen’s report noted that there were five to seven people observing, consistent with what sources told KMUN in June. According to Hansen’s report, those people were never asked to leave the area and were “allowed in the public areas as anyone else would be.”
“The patrolman also said that the people who were observing didn’t cause any problems at the port although a couple of them had asked for entry to the gated area but were denied access due to security reasons,” Hansen wrote.
The patrolman told Hansen that when one person asked what would happen if they went in anyway, the patrolman told them he wasn’t sure, but there was a chance the ICE officers could arrest them if they felt they were interfering.
Observers told KMUN in June that ICE appeared to transfer two detained men between vehicles parked at the pier. All of the ICE vehicles began to move out of the area around noon.
Hansen, reviewing video footage, noted in his report that as the ICE officers left the port’s property, at least four different vehicles and one pedestrian followed them.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security told KMUN in June that the officers were “swarmed by a group of 20 rioters and 4-5 vehicles.” The spokesperson claimed one woman tried to enter an ICE officer’s vehicle while they were stopped at a red light just up the road from Pier 1.
Video reviewed by KMUN and interviews with sources who were at the scene conflicts with this account. The video shows only a few people standing on a nearby sidewalk as one woman approached the driver’s side of an ICE vehicle.
The woman told KMUN she thought she saw an officer preparing to pepper spray her and slammed her body against the side of the vehicle to keep him from opening the door.
When the light turned green and the vehicles began to drive off, another ICE officer rolled down his window and sprayed the woman with pepper spray as he passed.
Immigration groups push for more
Port Executive Director Will Isom declined to comment on Hansen’s incident report, but asked that KMUN publish the following statement in full:
“The Port of Astoria understands the impacts, differing perspectives and strong emotions surrounding immigration enforcement in our community. The Port has been fully cooperative with the Oregon Department of Justice regarding ICE’s entry onto Port property on Sunday, June 7. The Port had no prior communication with or knowledge of the operation and was not involved in its planning. No individuals were detained on Port property; the individuals involved had been detained prior to arriving on Port property.”
The statement continues: “The Port encourages community members with questions or concerns regarding federal immigration enforcement to direct them to the appropriate federal or state representatives and agencies responsible for those policies and operations.”
Port Commission President Dirk Rohne has said he believes port staff made the right decision in the middle of a difficult situation.
“In my opinion, the port staff, under Oregon sanctuary law, isn’t allowed to interfere with federal agents in their operations,” he told KMUN. “In a way, their hands are tied.”
For groups that work with and advocate for the North Coast’s immigrant communities, it’s not enough.
Jenny Pool Radway, executive director of the Astoria-based nonprofit Consejo Hispano, told KMUN her organization would like to see the port release a clear, public explanation of what happened on June 7 once the state’s inquiry process is complete and publicly commit to upholding Oregon’s sanctuary law.
She also wants to see the port institute staff training on that law as well as on civil rights protections and protocols on interacting with federal immigration authorities She says the port should “establish open channels of communication and protocols for consulting with local immigrant rights organizations, impacted community members and the broader public to rebuild trust and ensure accountability.”
Pool Radway said community members and partners feel stonewalled by port leadership and believe the state’s investigation into the incident has stalled.
“Publicly, port leadership has hidden behind legal advice, refusing to address the incident or make statements under the guise of an ‘ongoing legal matter,’” Radway Pool said. She has interpreted this as an effort to “delay and deflect.”
One of the men ICE arrested on June 7, Gerardo Sanchez Lopez, has since been released from the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Wash., and has returned home to Clatsop County.
Sanchez Lopez came to the United States as a teenager and runs multiple businesses in Clatsop County. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said Sanchez Lopez was detained on June 7 because he was in the country illegally. Officers pulled him over while looking for someone else, Marco Antonio Mendoza-Cesar, who was also detained that day.
A person close to Sanchez Lopez says he will need to check in with immigration again in several months.
Katie Frankowicz is a reporter with KMUN. This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.
It is part of OPB’s broader effort to ensure that everyone in our region has access to quality journalism that informs, entertains and enriches their lives. To learn more, visit our journalism partnerships page.
