Federal immigration agents made arrests in Washington County on Wednesday, Oct. 7, as enforcement activity surged across the Portland metro area.
Beaverton ranks third among Oregon cities for per-capita immigration arrests since January 2025, with 199 arrests through early August. That works out to roughly 20 per 10,000 residents, according to an OregonLive analysis of Deportation Data Project figures. Only Woodburn and Cornelius ranked higher.
The latest activity landed in Beaverton's backyard. Immigration officials broke out a driver's window during a traffic stop outside Century High School in Hillsboro shortly after 10 a.m. Wednesday, according to video footage reviewed by OPB, which first reported the metro-wide surge. Whether anyone was detained in that stop was not immediately clear.
Hillsboro School District Chief Communications Officer Beth Graser said the district was aware of enforcement actions near schools Wednesday. None occurred on campuses.
The day before, at least nine people were confirmed detained across Gresham, Troutdale and parts of eastern Portland, according to the Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition (PIRC). The nonprofit tracks arrests through a community hotline and cross-references calls with the federal detainee locator.
Alyssa Walker Keller, PIRC co-director, described the week as a "sharp uptick" and told OPB that agents appeared to shift toward more visible operations after a quieter summer.
The numbers back her up. Federal agents arrested more than 700 people statewide in 2026 as of early August, according to the Beaverton Valley Times. More than 2,500 total arrests have occurred in Oregon since the start of the second Trump administration.
The share of people arrested without criminal records has also grown sharply. In May, about 27% of those arrested in Oregon had no criminal record. By July, that figure reached nearly 79%, according to the OregonLive analysis.
The Department of Homeland Security posted on social media Sept. 27 that it had started what it called a "nationwide public safety surge" in sanctuary cities. Oregon became the first sanctuary state in 1987 and prohibits local police from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement. A U.S. ICE spokesperson declined to confirm a new operation in Portland, OPB reported.
Immigration attorney Josie Moberg of the Portland-based CLEAR Clinic said she was turned away a dozen times from the Portland ICE detention facility on Oct. 7. She said detainees are sometimes asked to sign deportation documents without phone calls or access to a lawyer.
State Rep. Ricki Ruiz of Gresham noted similarities between this week's tactics and last fall's "Operation Black Rose." That operation produced more than 1,000 arrests statewide between September and November 2025, according to the Beaverton Valley Times.
PIRC's hotline volume has reflected the scale of enforcement. Calls jumped from about 50 per month to more than 3,000 per month by fall 2025, Walker Keller told the Oregon State Bar Bulletin.
Residents who witness enforcement activity or need legal help can call PIRC's hotline at 1-888-622-1510 or the ACLU of Oregon immigration line at (971) 412-ACLU. The state-funded Equity Corps of Oregon program provides free immigration legal services to eligible residents.
