QuickTake:

Immigration attorneys and advocates remain concerned about disruptive federal directives for check-ins to immigrants in Oregon. In a new shift, people in the Medford area are now required to travel to Eugene for check-in appointments, they say. 

Federal immigration officials are directing more people to check in at the Eugene office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, bypassing a Medford location that had served southern Oregon.

Reasons for the shift are unclear: ICE officials didn’t respond to repeated queries from Lookout Eugene-Springfield about changes to its local Oregon offices.

But the change has concerned an immigration attorney and advocates, who say that their clients often face interviews in Eugene without access to their attorneys and have been detained. And making arrangements to travel the 168 miles from Medford to Eugene can be a hardship for those making the trip.

Check-ins are required in different situations, including for people seeking asylum. Immigrants seek asylum for a variety of reasons: In their home countries, they may have endured political unrest and upheaval, are victims of trafficking or face persecution based on their religion, race, social status or other factor. 

Depending on the case, check-ins may be required once a month or every few months. 

“What’s really a concern for us right now is that ICE is directing more and more people to Eugene, where there is an ICE enforcement office,” said Katrina Kilgren, an immigration attorney in Eugene. “This is particularly concerning for us because the Eugene office has already been having, historically, issues where attorneys are blocked from key interviews and meetings. So ICE is denying people access to legal representation in meetings that are ending up in detention.”

Kilgren said she is concerned about “fundamental violations of due process.”

“Federal law requires ICE to allow reasonable access to attorneys during detention proceedings, and that’s just not what’s happening in Eugene,” Kilgren said. 


It’s difficult for immigration attorneys and advocates to gauge the full numbers of people directed from Medford to Eugene for check-in appointments. ICE does not publish local check-in data, though its website lists a Medford field office that is open for appointments on Wednesdays from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. No one answered the phone at the office — not even a voice messaging system — when Lookout Eugene-Springfield made numerous calls on Wednesday.

But Kilgren and other advocates said the impact of the switch to Eugene is far-reaching. 

“Multiple people have been taken into custody at the Eugene office during the last couple of weeks, and at the same time, they’re blocking attorney access in these crucial moments when it matters most,” said Kilgren. 

“ICE needs to be following basic legal protections for people who are following all the rules,” she said. “So attorneys and community members are really concerned about this denial of basic rights. Federal law requires ICE to allow reasonable access to attorneys during detention proceedings, and that’s just not what’s happening in Eugene.”

At the Eugene office, Kilgren said she was allowed to enter the waiting room space, but could not enter the agency’s offices where meetings with her clients unfold. And she said the practice of denying attorneys access predates the Trump administration. 

What is new, she said, is directing Medford-area people to Eugene and the increased frequency of arrests and detentions of people when they show up for appointments.


“People are being rushed through a process that they don’t have a full understanding of and without having a legal advocate there, it’s violating fundamental rules of due process and fairness,” Kilgren said.

Kilgren and Joel Iboa, executive director of Oregon Just Transition Alliance, echoed another concern they’ve both heard: The language barrier persists at ICE without adequate translation services.

“This is an example of a much larger trend that folks are seeing nationwide,” said Iboa, head of the group, which advocates on behalf of communities facing issues that include environmental racism and climate change.

An advocate’s perspective

Dagoberto Morales, director of the Ăšnete Center for Farmworker Advocacy, works with farmworkers and immigrants in Medford and throughout the Rogue Valley in southern Oregon. The organization provides services to immigrants, including educating them about their rights. 

Like immigration attorneys in Eugene, Morales said he has noticed an increase in the number of people in Medford who are ordered to report to Eugene instead of the local office. He said the federal agency has not offered explanations for the switch, or said how long it might last.

“One of the biggest issues for the asylum seekers is a lack of transportation and lack of resources,” he said. Morales said the change in immigration policy and practices has increased fears among his clients, who now worry when they see police cars on routine patrols. His group educates and encourages people to know their rights and make their check-in appointments.

Even so, the immigration policy changes are disheartening, he said: “We really live in tyranny.”

Ben Botkin covers politics and policy in Lane County. He has worked as a journalist since 2003, most recently at the Oregon Capital Chronicle, where he covered justice, health and human services and documented regional efforts to combat fentanyl addiction. Botkin has worked in statehouses in Idaho, Nevada, Oklahoma and, of course, Oregon. When he's not working, you'll find him road tripping across the West, hiking or surfing along the Oregon Coast.