February 28: This story has been updated to include Sen. Ron Wyden's efforts to prevent information sharing between immigration agencies and the Office of Refugee Resettlement.

As the Trump Administration intensifies immigration enforcement nationwide, undocumented immigrants and their loved ones are on high alert.

The passage of the Laken Riley Act in Congress has heightened the risk of detention and deportation for undocumented immigrants, even those without criminal convictions. On top of this, as of January 21, the Department of Homeland Security expanded its use of expedited removal, a process by which ICE or Customs and Border Protection can deport people without seeing a judge. 

According to the National Immigration Law Center, ICE and CBP previously only used expedited removal against people within 100 miles of the border, during the first 14 days of their arrival. 

These restrictions have now been revised, with plans to use expedited removal against any undocumented person who can't prove they've continuously been in the US for two years.

Increased enforcement and shrinking protections for immigrants have raised questions about where and how ICE agents are allowed to conduct enforcement, and what Trump’s decree means for sanctuary cities and states.

The Trump administration has attempted to exert pressure on sanctuary cities, such as Portland, threatening to withhold federal funding through executive order 14159, “Protecting the American People Against Invasion.”

In response to the order, the city of Portland reaffirmed its sanctuary city status and joined other local governments in suing the Trump administration for attempting to “illegally cut off federal funding to sanctuary jurisdictions.”

Despite backing from city officials, anxiety within migrant communities continues to grow. Reports of ICE agent sightings surged across the Portland region and the state in the weeks immediately following Trump’s inauguration. Last month, a widely circulated social media post claimed that ICE agents were interrogating young passengers on TriMet public transit. The post included a photo of law enforcement agents, which was later deemed to be a government-generated image from a national website. The post has since been removed. 

Still, the post triggered widespread concerns and questions about the legal bounds of immigration enforcement in public spaces.

TriMet is adamant they do not work with ICE. The agency told the Mercury it found no evidence to support the social media post about ICE agents conducting immigration enforcement on TriMet. 

“TriMet does not work or coordinate any activities with ICE. While there is no legal statute specific to public transit to prohibit ICE agents from coming on board, we follow the direction of Oregon’s sanctuary state declaration,” Roberta Altstadt, communications director at TriMet, said via email.

While local and state law enforcement divisions aren’t authorized to help ICE, recent patrols of the local ICE facility by Portland Police Bureau (PPB) officers sparked concerns about the city agency using resources to help safeguard the federal agency’s building and staff.

“Historically, the ICE facility can be the focus of demonstrations,” Mike Benner, PPB’s public information manager, said in a January 30 email. “The surrounding neighborhood is full of residences and businesses and in the interest of the public and safety, the Chief is intentionally putting officers in the area for directed patrols when time and resources allow. PPB’s presence in the area is in no way shape or form related to immigration enforcement.”

The relationship between city police and federal law enforcement agencies has faced heightened scrutiny amid hardline immigration policies and new leadership at the FBI. 

“We know that PPB says  they are committed to upholding our city and state's sanctuary statuses, but parking in front of the ICE building every day sends the community the opposite message,” Natalie Lerner, an organizer with the Asylum Seeker Solidarity Collective, says. “Right now, local law enforcement can and should be seeking to build trust with immigrant communities who are experiencing threats at the federal level. We hope that asylum seekers we organize with and PPB can meet soon to build trust and to further local law enforcement's commitment to sanctuary in our city and our state.”

In response to public concerns, Portland Police Chief Bob Day reiterated the Bureau’s policy in a January 28 community message. 

Portland City Councilor Sameer Kanal, whose background includes studies in human rights and international law, as well as police accountability work, said police must strike a balance. 

“PPB has clearly communicated their intent not to cooperate or assist ICE in immigration enforcement, and I commend them for that,” Kanal told the Mercury. “We must also ensure that PPB respects Portlanders’ First Amendment rights, including their rights to protest ICE. I will continue to monitor this situation, and continue to stand for the First Amendment.”

Oregon’s Sanctuary Promise does not specify whether state or local police can help protect federal ICE facilities.

Evelyn Kocher, the communications manager for the Latino Network, a Latino-led education organization, emphasized that cooperation between law enforcement and federal officials on matters of immigration is illegal and it should be reported to the Oregon Department of Justice.

“Sanctuary Promise protects our whole community by ensuring our local law enforcement are focused on local community safety needs,” Kocher said in an email.

Sensitive locations

While ICE was previously restricted from entering sensitive locations such as schools, places of worship, health care facilities and social services establishments, under Trump, that directive protecting sensitive spaces was dropped.

After legal challenges from three separate religious groups, ICE was given new restrictions. A federal judge blocked enforcement in Quaker, Cooperative Baptist, and Sikh places of worship. While ICE agents may enforce immigration laws in any public spaces, agents need a judicial warrant to enter private areas within hospitals, schools, places of worship, and private residences. Locally, Portland Public Schools policy limits immigration officials' access beyond the front office.

At the federal level, Sen. Ron Wyden has called for the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) to cease sharing sensitive information with ICE, citing concern that such practices could jeopardize the care of unaccompanied children, and lead to prolonged detention and family separation. Wyden also highlighted that the current acting director of ORR is an ICE detailee, raising further questions about the agency's independence from immigration enforcement.

“I and the rest of the country were horrified by the first Trump administration’s treatment of children in ORR custody," Wyden said in a letter to Harper Switzer, acting director of ORR. "ORR’s essential function of protecting children was co-opted to carry out an agenda of cruelty. ORR became a clearinghouse for children separated from their families under Trump’s zero tolerance policy, and routinely transported kids—many of whom were infants and toddlers—thousands of miles away from their parents to hundreds of shelters across the country. The Trump administration failed to return these children to their family members or find suitable sponsors in a timely manner."

Across the US, immigration cases have multiplied significantly since 2021, jumping from less than 400,000 initial cases that year, to nearly 2 million in 2024. According to the US Department of Justice, there are more than 4 million currently pending immigration cases in the federal court system. 

Of the more than 3.5 million pending cases in 2024, only 32 percent had legal representation, according to the DOJ’s Executive Office for Immigration Review.

The city of Portland provides a list of resources for immigrants, including legal resources, via its immigrant and refugee program. The city also provides links for reporting bias crimes and suspected violations of Oregon’s sanctuary laws.