Ripped apart: The local story of a family severed by ICE

From

KLCC Studios, this is Oregon on the Record.

I'm Michael Dunn. We've been so inundated by stories of immigration and customs enforcement raids and arrests that we might actually be numb to it all. But perhaps one element of this sad and some might say cruel drama that is underreported is the impacts on family members who aren't arrested or deported but nevertheless have to live in the aftermath. Well, today on the show, we'll bring you the story of just such a family here in Eugene. Lookout Eugene Springfield recently published a very in-depth and detailed story about what happened when a father who was in this country illegally for decades and was a real pillar in the community was nevertheless arrested, tried, and forced to leave this country and what has happened to the family he leaves behind. An interview with that reporter is next on Oregon on the Record. Imagine living in Eugene for years and years and quietly going about your life, raising a family, helping out your community, minding your own business. But because your name appears on a list, you're arrested, detained for months, and then ripped away from your family through a deportation process. Well, don't imagine it. Today on the show, a reporter with Lookout Eugene joins us to tell this local story of our nation's escalation of immigration enforcement. Grace Chinowski, reporter for The Lookout, Eugene Springfield. Grace, it's great to see you. Thanks so much for coming in.

Thank you. Thanks for having me.

I really enjoyed. You had a very in-depth piece recently about sort of one family, one local family's ordeal with regard to ICE. Let's start with this, and I hope I pronounced the name correctly. Who is, is it Misael Garcia Lopez? Yes.

Misael, yes, very close. So he is a 49-year-old man from central Mexico. He came to Eugene about 18 years ago and raised a family of three here along with his wife in West Eugene. He worked in a variety of jobs, very much in many ways kind of built into the fabric of this city. And then in November, he was arrested by ICE after dropping off his school.

Yeah. Or

sorry, dropping off his son at

school. Yeah. I think it was November 19th, 2025. So a normal day, he's going to drop his, his child off at school. Describe what he described to you about kind of being followed, right?

Yes. So he was, like I said, he just exited the parking lot of his son's school. We know this because there was dash cam video from his truck that we were actually able to obtain. that captured those last moments. And essentially, two ICE vehicles started tailing him as he drove home. Eventually, their lights and sirens started, and he pulled over near Meadowlark Prairie. Okay. And at that point, they came up to his vehicle, asked him what his name was, and then that's when the dash cam recording shuts off. We understand that they were not able to find valid immigration documents on his possession according to agency records. And at that point, they took him into custody and put him in the back of their vehicle and took him to Portland.

Okay. So pick up the story kind of from there. Give our audience kind of paint the picture of what his experience in ICE detention was in Portland