FBI and ICE involved in Eugene apartment raid seeking firearms, court documents say

FBI agents sought “unlawfully possessed” firearms and had U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement support while conducting a warrant search last week at Woodland Creek apartments, according to court documents filed Monday, Oct. 20.

An ICE officer’s statement filed Monday comes in response to a petition filed the day of the Oct. 15 raid by a Venezuelan man now in ICE detention who was “swept up along with others” during the raid, according to previously filed court documents.

A petition filed on behalf of the 46-year-old man states he fled Venezuela because he opposed an authoritarian government and faced reprisals, and that “[o]n information and belief” the man has no criminal history.

The response filed Monday includes a description by an ICE officer about the raid and information about the Eugene residence of the Venezuelan man, identified in court documents only by his initials and as the “Petitioner.”

“The purpose of this warrant was to locate firearms being unlawfully possessed by an alien at such location. During the execution of this warrant, I encountered the Petitioner who admitted to me that he pays rent and currently resides at the warrant address,” the ICE officer stated in a declaration filed in court.

The man remains in ICE detention at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington, according to Monday’s court filing. The filing confirms the connection between the Venezuelan man’s detention and the FBI raid at the west Eugene apartments.

Last week, an FBI spokesperson only confirmed “court authorized law enforcement activity” on the 1300 block of Quaker Street, the address of the Woodland Creek apartments, stating that no further comment would be offered. It’s unclear if any criminal charges have been filed in connection with the raid.

An FBI spokesperson Monday declined comment, referring questions to the U.S. attorney’s office and the Department of Homeland Security. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to an email with questions sent Monday afternoon.

Robert Easton, an attorney with Catholic Community Services of Lane County’s Refugees and Immigration Services Program, who is representing the Venezuelan man, declined to comment. 

“We do not comment on current litigation,” Easton said in an email Monday.

A video provided to Lookout Eugene-Springfield shows agents in uniform taking multiple people into custody in darkness during the early morning raid. A flurry of social media posts last Wednesday described a heavy law enforcement presence at the apartment complex.

In the video provided to Lookout, a man in uniform states that they are not with ICE.

The documents filed Monday also provide details from ICE about the man’s immigration history that contrast with information filed in court documents last week.

The man, described as a native and citizen of Venezuela in court documents filed Monday, upon arriving in the United States in August 2024 provided a residential address in Junction City, the court filing states.

He was allowed into the country on certain conditions of release and “granted parole into the United States until July 31, 2026, for the purpose of attending immigration court proceedings,” according to the declaration by the ICE officer.

Told to check in at the Eugene ICE office, the man had a requirement “that he not change his place of residence without first notifying and securing written permission from ICE,” states a document filed by the U.S. attorney for the District of Oregon.

In February of this year, the man reported to the Eugene ICE office, where “ICE learned that Petitioner had changed his address without notifying and securing written permission,” the court document states.

An ICE officer “warned Petitioner that if he changed his place of residence again without notifying and securing written permission from ICE” that he “would be taken into custody,” the court filing states.

The ICE officer’s declaration states that in February the man’s reported address was 1475 Bailey Hill Road.

In some online searches, 1475 Bailey Hill Road shows up as the address for the Woodland Creek apartments. Property listings at both addresses also have the same owner, Woodland Creek Sig LLC, according to the county assessor’s website.

The court filing lists an apartment number provided in February that differs from the apartment number where the search warrant was executed.

Both the filings from the federal government and by the Venezuelan man state that his parole was revoked on April 18 of this year. The man’s petition seeking release from detention states that he has an immigration court hearing scheduled for 2027.

The filings by federal authorities do not give a reason for why the man’s parole was revoked, but the man’s petition filed last week states his parole was revoked “through a mass termination process with no individualized determination.”

The man’s petition seeking his release from detention stated that he filed an application for asylum in February of this year.

Senior U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken set a deadline of Oct. 20 for federal authorities to respond to the petition seeking the man’s release from detention but has yet to issue any ruling about whether he should be released.