ICE raids shake Oregon’s wine industry

The recent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainment of a respected vineyard management business owner in Newberg has spread fear among Oregon’s vineyard workers and sparked concerns among winemakers in the Willamette Valley and statewide.

“We’ve seen a handful of ICE detentions, and that’s putting it nicely, in our community so far, all wrapped around the wine industry,” said Bubba King, a Yamhill County Commissioner. “If you are in that vineyard management, farm worker, primarily Latino community, you’re very afraid.”

Moises Sotelo, who ran a vineyard management business called Novo Start Vineyard Service, was detained in the early morning hours of June 12 on his way to work, according to a GoFundMe appeal organized by one of his children, Alondra Garcia. As of the afternoon of June 26, it has raised $138,938 out of a $175,000 goal from more than 2,000 donations. 

Sotelo started Novo Start Vineyard Service after working in the Willamette Valley wine industry for more than 20 years. In 2020, the Oregon Wine Board honored Sotelo with its annual Vineyard Excellence Award, which “recognizes vineyard employees who demonstrate outstanding collaborative support under the supervision of vineyard directors and viticulturists. These employees exemplify remarkable technical knowledge, professionalism and an outstanding work ethic.”

“The government says they’re going after the worst of the worst, and I can say definitively that this man is not the worst of the worst,” said Anthony Van Nice, owner and winemaker of Woodshed Wine Company in Dundee. “This is somebody that is a good person that has contributed to our society and employs people. There’s just no way you could describe him as the worst of the worst.”

Van Nice worked alongside Sotelo at Archery Summit Winery in Dayton in 1995.

“He was a crew foreman and I was a junior cellar hand,” Van Nice said. “Moises showed me the ropes and taught me a lot about winemaking.” 

The men remained friends and colleagues. Van Nice also worked with Sotelo’s wife for many years. 

“So they’ve been part of this community a long time,” he said.

Van Nice declined to give Sotelo’s wife’s name because she does not wish to be publicly identified. 

Sotelo started his own business in 2024.

“He’s literally living the American dream of entrepreneurship,” Van Nice said. “He has children here that are American citizens, grandchildren. He’s a leader in his church, he’s an all-around good guy.”

“ICE Seattle arrested Moises Sotelo-Casas, 54, who is a citizen of Mexico as a part of routine federal law enforcement activity that identifies, detains and removes criminal aliens to their country of origin,” a statement provided by an ICE spokesperson to Lookout Eugene-Springfield said. “Sotelo first entered the United States illegally in 2006, was arrested by US Border Patrol that resulted in an expedited removal to Mexico. Sotelo has a criminal conviction for DUI in Newberg, OR and he will remain in custody pending removal.” 

King said Sotelo’s family denies the driving under the influence of intoxicants charge and Yamhill County’s district attorney found no record of a DUII.

When asked by Lookout for further clarification, the ICE spokesperson said, “ICE is federal; the subject arrest is based on his previous removal to his home country. I will not provide comment on state laws or county record keeping.”

The ICE statement also contradicts Sotelo’s Novo Start website, which states Sotelo came to the United States in 1994. 

King, who has been a county commissioner for six months and said he has Hispanic grandparents, said this fight is “personal” for him.

“I know Moises personally, but it goes deeper than that,” he said. “This racism goes as far back as we can go. And I just don’t agree with it. So, I’m using my voice. This isn’t the view of the county commissioners as a whole, as a board, but for me personally, it is something that I’m willing to talk about out loud.”

Skilled labor at risk

Closer to Eugene and Springfield, wine industry leaders are watching what’s unfolding in Newberg with “heavy hearts,” Morgen McLaughlin, Willamette Valley Wineries Association (WVWA) executive director, said in a written statement. 

“Lane County’s vineyards, like so many across the Willamette Valley, thrive because of the deep knowledge, steady hands, and lived experience of vineyard stewards and winery team members, many of whom are immigrants or part of immigrant families. The human cost is devastating — these are our friends, our colleagues, the people who have helped build Oregon wine over decades. Their well-being is inseparable from our region’s success, and we stand with them.”

The Farm Aid organization, which advocates for family farms, reports it’s difficult to get complete information about migrant and immigrant agricultural workers. The high number of undocumented workers, the nature of the work, and “power inequities embedded in the industry” make people afraid to tell the truth about their situations.  

Another organization, Farmworker Justice, estimates 70% of farmworkers are immigrants, with about 45% of those undocumented. Fifty-nine percent of farm laborers are estimated to be immigrants.

Many area winemakers are reluctant to speak publicly about their workforces.

“For many vineyard and winery employers, there’s deep concern that speaking publicly could draw attention to their businesses and make their teams more vulnerable,” Jana McKamey, Oregon Winegrowers Association executive director, said. “In this moment, protecting people’s safety and well-being is the top priority.”

Sotelo’s crew provided vineyard management and was contracted by vineyard owners to do work throughout the year. Crews like Sotelo’s do it all — planting new vineyards, pruning, spraying, picking, and more. 

Jonathan Oberlander, owner of J. Scott Cellars in Eugene, has experience managing vineyards and using contract labor to prune and pick, but now focuses on winemaking. He says most American-born workers don’t want to do the vineyard work.

“It’s hard work,” Oberlander said. “When I did have vineyards I would always bring my interns to pick grapes, because it’s absolutely hard. Your back hurts depending on how the vineyards are set up, and you’re kind of hunched over. You can cut your fingers. About the third time you whip yourself in the face with a grape cane you’re pruning, the romance goes out very quickly. I wanted to make sure that (the interns) appreciated those guys, so that they understood what was actually involved and how lucky they are that they don’t have to do that.”

The specialized nature of vineyard work makes workers such as Sotelo and the teams he manages so valuable.

“This is not unskilled labor,” Van Nice said. “These are very skilled laborers. (It) takes years to learn how to farm vines for high-quality wine production. And Moises is just one example of somebody who has a very specialized knowledge base in doing this very important and special type of farming.”

He said migrant labor is important for not just wine grapes but for other crops as well, and continued raids could have a “significant effect” on the farming industry as a whole.

“Migrant labor is important,” Van Nice said. “They start picking lettuce in California, they pick grapes, and they get to Oregon and Washington, picking apples and more grapes.”

Brent Stone is co-CEO and winemaker at King Estate Winery in Eugene. The 1,033-acre King Estate has 470 acres planted in grape vines. Stone said the estate does use a pool of contract labor that follows harvests, from grapes to apples to other crops. 

“The wine industry is a very seasonal operation,” Stone said. “The wine industry, as does other ag-based industries, relies heavily on seasonal contract labor. That’s core to ag everywhere.”

King said, “We’re coming into berry season. Who’s picking them?”

Effect on future harvests

Without the workers they need to get the work done, vineyard owners are left with few choices. Oberlander spoke of a winemaker with a small vineyard in Medford who spent $500,000 on a mechanical harvester because he was having a hard time finding workers. 

“It was just unheard of for such a small vineyard,” Oberlander said. “I think (continued detainments) could be really detrimental to being able to get the fruit off in time when they need it, before the birds eat them, before they rot in the rain.”

Oberlander said winemakers and vineyards in the Eugene and Springfield area are going to feel a pinch if the raids continue and the community withdraws out of fear. 

“If you’ve got your pruning done now, you’re fortunate,” he said. “But the question is, next January and February, are you going to have those guys to do it? And then in September, October are you going to be able to pick it? So right now, it’s not impacting a lot of people, but I think coming up, it’s going to be serious.”

Oberlander said it’s likely that more vineyard owners will purchase mechanical harvesters and mechanical pruners.  

“There are more people that are moving towards that, just because we’ve been seeing the labor shortages a little bit already,” he said. “So people that have a mechanical harvester will be doing it for themselves. They’ll be renting it out. I’m seeing more and more and more of that happening. 

King said, regardless of whether a business owner is managing a restaurant, a hotel, a construction project, or a winery, they are always trying to figure out their labor needs, but especially if the business is agriculture. 

“We are in the time right now,” when workers are needed, King said. “Vineyards are spraying which are scheduled at this point, and training the vines. And soon we will be into harvest. This problem is not going to go away between now and August.”

Infusing the community with fear

Whether the workers are documented or undocumented or have a green card or a residency permit, King said they are providing important services.

“It’s their living, it’s how they pay their bills, and when we rip the carpet out from underneath them in order to do that, it affects their families,” he said. 

On the last day of school in Newberg, King said a text message about ICE detainments circulated in the community. Some children were afraid that when they got home, their parents and extended family members would no longer be there. King said he has seen Mexican restaurants shuttering their doors. Some construction crews went home. 

“They’re trying to protect their community, their family members who work there, whether they’re blood family or not,” King said. 

The targets of detainment

King confirmed three people in the Newburg area have been detained, but it may be more. 

“It is hard to confirm, because ICE is unwilling to really give you any information about it,” he said. “So even if we’re talking with the senators’ offices or our congresswoman’s office, it’s hard to get ICE to cooperate, even with intergovernmental agencies.”

One of Sotelo’s employees was detained June 6. That incident was reported on in The Guardian. The vineyard manager, Victoria Reader, told The Guardian ICE agents were masked and refused to identify themselves. Reader also said “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.”

What does it mean to be undocumented?

According to the policy manual provided on USCIS.gov, the website of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, undocumented immigrants are individuals who have either illegally entered the United States without inspection or parole, or, whose lawful immigration status expired or was rescinded, revoked, or otherwise terminated. 

The American Immigration Council explains “parole” in this sense as a temporary legal mechanism that allows someone to enter or remain in the United States even though they don’t have a visa or other standard immigration status. Parole is essentially a discretionary “pass” that can be granted, often for humanitarian reasons such as medical emergencies, family crises, or fleeing persecution. Parole is temporary, and does not lead to a change in immigration status. 

Undocumented immigrants do not have authorization to live or work in the United States. Immigration officers have the power to interrogate, search, arrest, and detain them. 

According to USCIS.gov, a “green card,” officially known as a Permanent Resident Card, allows cardholders to live and work permanently in the United States. There are different pathways to obtaining a green card, including employment-based immigration, close family ties to someone in the United States, or through refugee status. 

Van Nice said he had been told Sotelo was working on getting his paperwork in order.

“I don’t have first-hand knowledge of this, but I’ve heard repeatedly that he was in the process, which may be how they knew where to find him, because he was in the system,” Van Nice said. 

King said ICE could target any non-citizen, whether they are undocumented, have a green card, residency, or are waiting for these applications to be approved. 

“There are different levels where you can still be affected by this,” King said.

What happens after detainment?

Van Nice had access to Sotelo’s tracking number, which showed he had been taken to Portland, then moved to the ICE facility in Tacoma, Washington. Van Nice said Sotelo’s family was able to speak to Sotelo on the phone and visit him in Tacoma. On June 17, Van Nice went to Tacoma to visit Sotelo, and was told he wasn’t there, even though the tracking website said he was. Van Nice was told Sotelo had been in the Tacoma facility as recently as the morning of June 17, but was no longer there and no information about where he had been taken was available. 

“That was frightening and scary and shocking,” Van Nice said. “I asked a bunch more questions, but didn’t really get any good information.”

Van Nice said he spoke with an ICE employee at the facility who told him employees are not required to notify families or attorneys of detainees when they are moved. Van Nice said he and the family later tracked Sotelo to a facility in Arizona. As of June 19, Sotelo appears to be being moved back to Tacoma.

“When you do look on the site to track the location of these detainees, it’s often not updated, and information is many hours or days behind the actual current events, and it gives you no information of why people are being moved, or what’s happening,” Van Nice said. “It’s really a difficult system to navigate. And it feels to me like it’s intentionally so.”

Van Nice expressed concern and shock that people are being moved around with no obligation to inform family members, many of whom, he says, are citizens. 

“I don’t think we should be treating migrants or immigrants, whether they’re documented or undocumented, this way, but you know, we certainly shouldn’t be treating citizens this way when we’re not informing them of what the government is doing to their family members,” he said.