ICE arrested him in Oregon. His 24-year-old fiancée wonders what will happen to their toddler

On a chilly and windy winter morning, Nelson Pablo-Morales got up early to get ready for work at a Beaverton construction site.

His fiancé was on the verge of rising from his bed to prepare his lunch. “No,” he informed her. Come see me at work at approximately eleven in the morning, and we can share a cup of hot chicken broth in the car.

That morning, he said to her in Spanish, “Please take my food.” Takelanena, the young girl, is with you.

On February 11, at around 8 a.m., Pablo-Morales’ uncle called while his fiancée was cooking. Immigration officials had apprehended 32-year-old Pablo-Morales. The undocumented immigrant may soon be deported to Mexico and has not seen his fiancé or his now-22-month-old daughter in person since his incarceration.

In an interview, the 24-year-old mother sobbed as she said, “We had so many plans and everything went downhill.” My kid and I are on our own. There was no father left for my daughter.

A case study of the effects of President Donald Trump’s harsh immigration policy on undocumented migrants in Oregon is provided by Pablo-Morales and his family. Local immigration arrests have doubled by one faulty metric, upending lives and leaving countless others terrified that they might be the next.

According to recently published data and interviews, at least 55 people were detained in Oregon during Trump’s first four weeks in office, including Pablo-Morales and a number of coworkers. This shows how, despite intensified enforcement, an initial uptick in local immigration arrests mostly went unnoticed.Even though families from the first wave now confront the harsh reality that remaining in the United States likely means being separated from loved ones facing deportation, a second, more public wave that started in May has garnered significantly more local attention as arrests increased to at least 177 through early June.

Pablo-Morales, who is undocumented and attempting to figure out how to best care for their kid, is not named by The Oregonian/OregonLive. Options include finding a local childcare provider so the mother may work to support them financially or sending the American-born youngster to family in Guatemala.

With the exception of stating that Pablo-Morales’ case is being appealed, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon has refrained from commenting since highlighting its prosecution of him in a news release last month. The U.S. Department of Justice defined Operation Take Back America, which included Pablo-Morales’ arrest, as a national endeavor to thwart the invasion of illegal immigration, eradicate cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and shield our communities from violent crime perpetrators.

Pablo-Morales, who was deported in 2017, was arrested and found guilty this year of unlawfully reentering the country. His 2015 arrest for driving under the influence and reckless driving after colliding with a parked car led to that deportation, but court documents show that prosecutors dropped the charges when he finished a diversion program.

After leaving the nation, Pablo-Morales quickly returned to Oregon, where he led a spotless life. About a year ago, he got a job at a construction company where he led a crew and framed houses.

Mario Talavera, his manager, stated in Spanish that he is highly responsible and hardworking. He used to be quite helpful to our business. He would create a great deal of labor.

Like Pablo-Morales’ fiancé, Talavera claimed that on the same day that Pablo-Morales was arrested by immigration officials, another employee of the company was also taken into custody. Two more workers were taken by authorities a few days later, Talavera added.

Despite not being close friends, the two men got to know one another at work since Pablo-Morales was constantly making jokes and discussing his family. Talavera claimed to have known Pablo-Morales was content as a new father.

“It’s unfair,” Talavera stated. Children are left alone as families are split up.

Learning to say



pap

Prior to his family’s relocation to Guatemala, Pablo-Morales was raised in Mexico. According to court filings, he was apprehended in 2012 after attempting to enter America illegally across the Rio Grande River near Hidalgo, Texas. He was given permission by the authorities to return to Mexico on his own volition, but he returned to the US very immediately and eventually made it to Oregon.

Few facts exist regarding Pablo-Morales’s stay in Beaverton, where he worked as a construction worker. However, it is evident that he became a target after his driving arrest. Pablo-Morales was taken into custody by U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement agents in March 2017, just a few months into President Trump’s first term. Pablo-Morales was transported by air to Mexico City after an immigration judge ordered his expulsion.

Soon after, Pablo-Morales went back to Oregon and resumed his job. It’s uncertain exactly when that was.

The woman who would become his fiancée arrived in the US around four years ago to work and stay with her brother on the East Coast. Because their families lived close to one another in Guatemala, Pablo-Morales knew her from social media.

As their conversation progressed, she made the decision to move to Oregon to spend more time with Pablo-Morales. After a year, they realized they wanted to create a life together because they clicked.

The couple made the decision to expand their family shortly after.

Pablo-Morales’ fiancé stated that he desired a daughter. When his request was granted, he erupted in joy.

He enjoyed being the family’s only source of income. Prior to his incarceration, they shared a two-bedroom apartment with another family, occupying one bedroom. Because Pablo-Morales loved his daughter so much, he made her accustomed to sharing their bed and sleeping in the middle. She acquired the phrase “pap before ma’am.”

In their spare time, Pablo-Morales liked to cook and assist his spouse in maintaining a clean and organized flat. According to his fiancée, he was the type of person who would assist you with anything.

He intended to eventually be able to build their own house in Oregon, and she hoped to shortly begin working nights. They intended to baptize their daughter and wished for her to grow up, have an education, and surpass them in life and possibilities.

Pablo-Morales’ arrest probably put an end to some of those goals.

According to his fiancée, “everything fell apart on me.” I was crying all the time.

Surprising use of resources

According to federal officials, they discovered in February that Pablo-Morales was still residing in Oregon in contravention of his prior deportation order. However, they haven’t explained how they found out.

According to his fiancée, Pablo-Morales informed her that immigration officials had discovered his residence and discovered he was in the nation by looking at his driver’s license from Oregon.

He obtained his driver’s license approximately a year ago, according to her.

What made me obtain my license? She added that following his immigration arrest, he told her when they eventually got in touch. None of these things would have occurred if I hadn’t obtained my license.

A spokesman for the Oregon Department of Transportation, Chris Crabb, stated that the organization was unaware of any request to provide immigration authorities with Pablo-Morales’s personal information.

However, she claimed that computerized resources like the Law Enforcement Data Service, a database of records including protection orders, warrants, criminal histories, and stolen property, make address information easily accessible. According to her, law enforcement queries the system millions of times each month. The system’s administrator, Oregon State Police, assured the reporters that the information is secure and instructed them to submit a request for public records.

Crabb wrote in an email that DMV is unable to see which particular authorities are pursuing an inquiry or why.

As mandated and permitted by Oregon’s Privacy Law, the DMV also has agreements with disseminators for access to records, she added. According to her, agency personnel have not seen any of the documents that immigration officials have demanded, but given the vast number of records they order, it is feasible.

ICE has consistently refused to comment on Pablo-Morales.

Oregon is home to an estimated 120,000 undocumented immigrants and immigration violations are civil offenses. But in an illegal reentry case, federal authorities have discretion to postpone deportation to pursue felony criminal prosecution.

From 2005 to 2023, more than 1,500 cases of illegal reentry were filed for prosecution in the Oregon U.S. District Court, according to annual data from the U.S. Courts for the Ninth Circuit. During that period, the highest number was in 2012, with 183 cases.

In June, the Justice Department asked a federal judge to sentence Pablo-Morales to six months behind bars. The judge, Karin J. Immergut, said cases such as Pablo-Morales were a surprising use of resources.

She stated in the courtroom that it is up to the U.S. Attorney’s Office or the Department of Justice in general to determine whether they have the resources necessary to concentrate on the large number of people who are in the country illegally but have a history of aggravated felonies or are not apprehended while committing other serious crimes.

Pablo-Morales was sentenced to four months in prison with credit for time served. He has been detained since his Feb. 11 arrest, spending about a month in immigration detention in Tacoma before being transferred back to Oregon for his prosecution.

Oregon s federal public defender s office is appealing Pablo-Morales conviction and sentencing in the reentry case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, court records show. Fidel Cassino-DuCloux, Oregon s federal public defender whose office is representing Pablo-Morales, said resources could be put to a better use. Cassino-DuCloux said he believes three other similar cases may go to trial this year if they are not settled and more could be expected if arrests increase.

For now, Pablo-Morales is being held at the Northern Oregon Regional Corrections in The Dalles on a U.S. Marshal federal hold, according to Rebeccah Beitl, a corrections clerk and administrative assistant.

Two suitcases and a question

After his arrest, Pablo-Morales fianc e and daughter had to move out of their apartment because she couldn t afford the rent.

Crying, she recalled having to move all of the furniture they had bought for their apartment out to the street, where it was abandoned.

She packed and left with only two large suitcases and her daughter.

I only brought what s necessary, she said.

The woman and her daughter are now living in an apartment with acquaintances. She is paying $300 a month to rent the apartment living room, where a bed sat on the carpet, the two suitcases and her daughter s toys at the opposite end of the room.

She s struggling to get by with $200 in government assistance she s receiving for her daughter and money from items she s sold. The couple didn t have much savings, she said, because Pablo-Morales had recently bought a lot of construction equipment, including tools, for his job.

She didn t visit Pablo-Morales while he s been in custody, and she didn t attend his court hearings, worried about what could happen to her child if immigration agents detained her, too.

Pablo-Morales has been able to call almost every three days. When he does, she tells him about the little milestones their daughter has reached.

I would like to share those moments with her, Pablo-Morales replied, she said. I can only imagine them, but I m not living them.

When Pablo-Morales daughter asks about herpap, his fianc e tells her only that he ll be home later. She s too young to understand.

Data analyst Mark Friesen contributed to this report.

— Yesenia Amaro is on the investigations team. Reach her at 503-221-4395, oryamaro@oregonian.com.

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