'It breeds mistrust': Police chief responds after Trump announces illegal immigrant sweep

WOODBURN, Ore. — Woodburn Police Chief Jim Ferraris said he wanted to allay fears in his community after President Donald Trump announced U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would start removing millions of illegal immigrants next week.

"This is the most intensive I've seen this issue affect a community in my career because it breeds fear. It breeds mistrust of law enforcement," Ferraris, who's worked in law enforcement in Oregon for more than 40 years, told a KATU reporter Wednesday. "We're concerned about creating fear that might cause people to be apprehensive about reporting crime."

Ferraris said about 65 percent of Woodburn's population is Latino, which is part of why he issued a special statement Tuesday.

Front Street in downtown Woodburn is home to many Latin American-themed businesses. A KATU reporter talked with Nicholas Morales there Wednesday as Morales's 3-year-old daughter ate ice cream next to him. It was a sweet image but Morales said he's concerned.

"Just scared, overwhelmed and kind of worried about what's going to happen," he explained.

Morales, a U.S. citizen, said his wife was brought here illegally as a young child but for now is protected under the federal government's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. He said several other members of her family are undocumented.

"Her family has been here like almost 17 to almost 20 years. And they haven't committed any crimes. No tickets, no nothing. And they just been here to work and try to make a better life," Morales said before explaining what life is like in Mexico. "If you go in the slums you see people starving and it's not fair. They come over here just so the kids don't starve and for them to come over here and then to get shoved back somewhere, they know they're not going to eat. "

On Monday President Trump sent out a tweet saying in part:

"Next week ICE will begin the process of removing the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States. They will be removed as fast as they come in."

"We want people to trust us. We want people to cooperate with us," Ferraris explained.

He said he also wants people to know that Oregon law prohibits officers from checking someone's immigration status.

"If they're fearful that we're going to arrest them for an administrative immigration violation, that's not our law to enforce. That's the federal government's law. That creates a problem for us," he said. "We can become involved anytime there's a crime involved or that there's a federal warrant signed by a federal judge for an immigration crime. ... It could involve a suspect. It could involve a witness, a material witness for instance."

A KATU reporter asked ICE about Trump's tweet and an agency spokesperson sent him the following statement:

“The border crisis doesn’t start and stop at the border, which is why ICE will continue to conduct interior enforcement without exemption for those who are in violation of federal immigration law. This includes routine targeted enforcement operations, criminals, individuals subject to removal orders, and worksite enforcement. This is about addressing the border crisis by upholding the rule of law and maintaining the integrity of the immigration system, as created by Congress.”

The White House press office did not immediately respond to two emails a KATU reporter sent asking who exactly next week's operation will target, how much it will cost, and where detainees will be held.

The "millions" Trump mentioned on Twitter referred to the more than 1 million people in the U.S. with final deportation orders, an administration official told the Associated Press.

The Pew Research Center says according to its latest estimates as of 2016, Oregon's 110,000 undocumented immigrants made up about 2.6 percent of the state's population. The nonpartisan think tank says 3.3 percent of Washington's population consisted of illegal immigrants.

Pew says the latest national statistics from 2017 show there were about 10.5 million undocumented immigrants nationwide, down from a peak of 12.2 million in 2007.