Ice's 'inhumane' arrest of well-known vineyard manager shakes Oregon wine industry
In the early morning hours of 12 June, Moises Sotelo woke up to go to work in the rolling hills of Oregon’s Willamette Valley wine country, a place he has called home for decades.
But this morning was not business as usual. A car tailed Sotelo as soon as he left his driveway, according to an account from his co-worker. Trucks surrounded him just outside of St Michael’s Episcopal church, where he was detained by federal immigration agents. By the end of the day, Sotelo was in an Ice detention facility.
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Sotelo’s detention comes as Ice raids on farm workers are heating up in Oregon’s wine country and across the US. The Trump administration briefly directed US immigration agents to shift their focus away from farms, only to abruptly reverse course this week. Meanwhile, reports of masked, unidentified agents conducting workplace raids have become commonplace. America’s agricultural industry, where at least 42% of workers are estimated by the US Department of Labor to be undocumented, is exemplifying the practical limits of Donald Trump’s aggressive deportation agenda.
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“They didn’t identify themselves. They just came out. They didn’t even say anything. They just started trying to open the doors,” Reader said. “I kept asking, who are you? What are you doing? And they wouldn’t answer.”
Reader said that agents would not tell her what immigration laws her employee violated, threatened her with assault of an officer for asking questions and told her she was not allowed to follow their cars or know where her employee was being taken.
Much more at:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/19/oregon-vineyard-manager-arrest-ice