This story has been updated to include new information about ICE’s presence in Clatsop County this summer.
The family of a longtime Clatsop County resident and restaurant owner who was detained by federal immigration officers last week is pushing for his release.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested Martin Anguiano, 63, on Sept. 10 at the Safeway in Seaside while he was picking up supplies for Guadalajara Taco Shop, a restaurant in Seaside that he has owned and operated with his family for 23 years.
Also arrested in Seaside on Sept. 10 was Gustavo Barrera Reyes. According to a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, Barrera Reyes entered the country illegally in 2014 and faces removal proceedings.
The DHS spokesperson said Anguiano was arrested in 1993 for possession of a controlled substance. A judge ordered his removal at that time and that Anguiano was deported, but later returned to the country.
“Under President Trump and (DHS) Secretary (Markwayne) Mullin, if you break the law, you will face the consequences,” the DHS spokesperson wrote in an email in response to questions from KMUN. “Criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the U.S. We will find you, we will arrest you, and we will deport you.”
Anguiano’s wife, Michelle, told KMUN she is still struggling to understand what happened — and to talk about it.
“I just want my community — especially the people of color in my community — to please just be safe,” she said. “Be smart. Because you can be the friendliest, hardworking father, grandfather, husband and they will still just take you like you don’t belong to anybody.”
“There’s not a person in this community that doesn’t know my husband,” she added. “My husband knows everybody and he is kind with everybody.”
Anguiano is undocumented and his family does not dispute that he was arrested in 1993. They told KMUN he was caught up in a situation where drugs were involved, but that he did not deal or source drugs and has had no charges in the decades since.
Anguiano’s family said they have concerns about the validity of the 1994 warrant ICE is using to detain him now.
They described Anguiano as a hard worker who takes pride in providing for his family, who pays his taxes and has operated his Seaside business legally and correctly.
Steve Haugen, owner of Universal Video in Seaside and the owner of the building where Guadalajara Taco Shop has been based since the early 2000s, said he was shocked when he heard the news of Anguiano’s arrest.
“He’s just a really hard-working guy,” Haugen said, adding that Anguiano was “the last person you’d think would be arrested.”
Anguiano is currently being held at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma where, as The Seattle Times reported last week, there have been complaints of unsanitary conditions, including rotten food.
Michelle Anguiano has spoken to her husband on the phone. He sounds terrible, she said.
“He’s 63 years old,” she said. “He has a whole family. We have five children. He has three grandchildren. And we’re just here and he’s sitting in some facility, like he’s at the dog pound or something.”
Anguiano’s oldest son, Christopher, told KMUN Anguiano tried to become documented in the past, but encountered a variety of hurdles and failures in these efforts and eventually became discouraged.
“Our immigration system is challenging at every corner,” he said. “So it felt almost impossible to try to take any sort of precautionary action to help protect our family just because of all the challenges and obstacles that … more or less restricts good people like my father from being a registered resident or a U.S. citizen.”
Christopher Anguiano said the family has lived with a heightened sense of fear since the Trump administration pushed a more aggressive approach to immigration over the past year and a half.
“You hear stories about other families being torn apart like this,” Christopher Anguiano said, “and it’s awful and you hope it never happens to your own, but when it does, it just completely devastates you.”
He couldn’t recall any recent conversations with his father about the possibility of deportation.
“It was honestly, for myself… it was kind of one of those things where, maybe if it wasn’t spoken, we would keep it from actually coming about in reality,” he said.
Anguiano’s family say they are trying to make noise about his arrest.
On Facebook, they have written or shared posts urging people to contact Oregon Senator Ron Wyden and U.S. Representative Suzanne Bonamici. A GoFundMe campaign started by Anguiano’s daughter, Celine, to help the family pay monthly bills and legal fees in Anguiano’s case has raised more than $14,000 as of Monday morning.
Anguiano’s arrest on Sept.10 is one of the more public arrests since ICE officers arrested at least two people in June. One of these men, Gerardo Chavez Lopez, was another longtime resident who also owned and operated businesses in the county.
Those arrests sparked additional controversy among local immigration advocates and activists after ICE officers used property at the Port of Astoria to move people between vehicles.
The incident prompted complaints to the Oregon Department of Justice about a potential violation of the state’s sanctuary laws. The Port of Astoria has maintained that port staff faced a difficult situation and did the right thing by allowing ICE agents to access port property.
According to local observers, ICE officers have since attempted to detain three different people as they were being released from the Clatsop County Jail. Two of the people were detained. One person ran away and managed to elude the officers.
Community members spread the word about ICE officers on the North Coast again on Sunday, just days after Anguiano’s arrest, but the officers appeared to leave the area without detaining anyone.