‘Authoritarian abuses’: Oregon family with 4 kids detained for nearly 2 weeks by feds, U.S. Rep says

An extended family from Honduras with roots in Portland for over two decades – including four U.S. citizen children, their mother, father and grandmother – have been detained by U.S. immigration and border authorities for nearly two weeks, according to accounts from a family member, a friend, their lawyer and

U.S. Rep. Maxine Dexter

.

Dexter, who held a press conference in Washington state on Friday to highlight the case, said the mother and children were effectively “kidnapped” by U.S. border authorities and haven’t had access to speak


to legal representation following the woman’s arrest at the U.S.-Canada border.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection standards say people generally

should not be detained in holding facilities for longer than 72 hours

.

An agency spokesperson said the family was arrested because the mother was “attempting to smuggle illegal aliens into the U.S. on June 28” – a claim the woman’s sister has denied in published reports.

“She had her children present during the smuggling attempt and she requested the children remain with her during detention,” the federal spokesperson added, while declining to say when the woman would be charged with a crime.

The woman and her children – including 9-year-old triplets and a 7-year-old – have been held for nearly two weeks at a Customs and Border Protection facility in Ferndale, Washington, Dexter said. The Portland Democrat found out about the family’s case from a friend on Monday and located them on Thursday. She has been able to visit the facility and see the family but wasn’t allowed to speak with them, she said.

“This is not just a legal line that’s been crossed. It is a line of safeguarding against the kind of authoritarian abuses we are now seeing unfold,” Dexter said of activities occurring under President Trump’s administration. “Trump said he would go after the worst of the worst, but what his immigration machine is doing instead is abducting Oregonians without cause.”

Dexter said she won’t stop fighting until the family is released and reunited with their community.

The woman wasn’t publicly identified during the news conference but The Oregonian/OregonLive was able to learn that she is a childcare service provider in Portland, a singer with a recorded album and a worship leader at a local Christian church.

The family was arrested at Peace Arch Historical State Park in Blaine, Washington. The southern half of the park is in the U.S., owned by Washington State Parks, and the northern half is part of Canada, owned by British Columbia Parks.

Americans and Canadians historically have been able to commingle anywhere in the park, but in May 2024, U.S. Customs and Border Protection established some restrictions for Canadians, citing an increase in illegal border crossings, according to

news articles

and a

video

by federal officials. Canadians can now go only as far as the restrooms on the U.S. side.

The mother and four children arrived at the park from Oregon along with their grandmother, who was visiting from Honduras on a travel visa, the family’s lawyer, Jill Nedved, said. They met with the mom’s sister, a Canadian resident and her Canadian-born children, at the park.

Nedved, with Gonzales, Gonzales & Gonzales Immigration Law Offices in Seattle, said the mother has not been charged with a crime.

Nedved said the grandmother was also arrested at the park but has been sent to an immigration detention center in Tacoma.

The woman’s husband was arrested a few days later by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in front of the family’s Portland home, and is being held in Tacoma, Nedved said.

David Yost, a spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said he couldn’t confirm whether both are still being detained at the immigration detention center in Tacoma, or why they were detained, without the individuals’ date of birth and a so-called A-number. The A-number may be assigned to someone without legal status and those seeking immigration benefits in order for them to track their immigration records and legal status.

The woman’s sister, speaking to Spanish-language news station Noticias Noroeste in a report that aired earlier this week, disputed the smuggling accusation and said it was simply a family reunion.

Flor Solis told the station she and her Canadian citizen children had met with her sister, her sister’s children and the grandmother at the park for a family reunion. Solis’ mother had come to the U.S. from Honduras with her husband on a tourist visa, Solis said. He remained in Portland and has not been detained.

Solis said her sister had applied for a U-visa, a special type of visa that grants temporary legal status to non-citizens who have been victims or witnesses of certain crimes in the U.S.

Solis said the U.S. border patrol agents also arrested her and her children, only to release them a few days later. Solis said she has been barred from entering the U.S. for five years, though she did not understand why.

Nationwide, media reports have identified tourists who have been detained this year at the border, spending

days or weeks in custody before being released

.

Vanessa Gutierrez, deputy director for Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, said it’s not historically common for customs and border agents to detain people for a while without charges, although it’s now happening more often.

Recently, she said, a man was detained at the Sea-Tac International Airport for about four days. News reports have also highlighted stories of several other U.S. citizens being questioned at airports, in some cases even being asked to see their social media and bank accounts.

Gutierrez said if someone is seeking to enter the U.S., they don’t have the right to an attorney, but in other cases, it would depend on individual circumstances. As for the Portland family, she said, it’s difficult to know without having more specifics.

“With the government these days, it’s hard to know how ethical they are being, especially with U.S. citizens involved,” she said. “That’s very concerning.”

Mimi Lettunich, a friend of the Portland family for 20 years, said they are hard working, church-going residents who own a home and a business. This is not the first time the family has met at the park on the U.S.-Canadian border, she said.

“They’re unbelievable people,” Lettunich said. “They don’t say a bad word, they don’t drink … they’re upstanding citizens.”

The mom is a talented singer and worship director at a local Christian church. The family is involved in community service projects. And the children attend Christian schools and just recently won a music competition.

Lettunich, who set up a GoFundMe account for the family, said she got a text from the detained mom on Tuesday indicating she didn’t know she had legal representation: “Mimi, I need an attorney. They want to send us to Honduras.”

Dexter said the family is being treated humanely at the Ferndale facility, even though they’re in a small cell with a cement floor. They have been provided with four-inch-thick mats and linens and have access to snacks, fresh fruit and toiletries as well as videos for the children, she said.

They are the only family detained at the facility, Dexter said.

The children “should be spending their summer riding bikes, going to the pool, going to camp and enjoying their childhood,” Dexter said. “Instead, they have spent almost two weeks locked in a detention facility, cut off from the outside world, access to legal counsel, and disappeared by their own government.”

Reporter Yesenia Amaro contributed to this report.

— Gosia Wozniacka covers environmental justice, climate change, the clean energy transition and other environmental issues. Reach her at gwozniacka@oregonian.com or 971-421-3154.

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