A very worked-up crowd descended at the Shirley Huffman Auditorium in Hillsboro, Oregon, this past Tuesday Night. They came fired up to talk, to speak their minds, and to ask for action and change in the wake of dozens of #ICE arrests and detentions in Hillsboro. After a 1-hour-long worksession covering the legal reasons that Hillsboro, and cities like it all over the US, cannot do anything to stop the arrests, people were fired up. One after the other, dozens of Hillsboro residents stepped to the microphone and laid out their feelings and demands on a bewildered City Council, Mayor, and Staff. Hillsboro, in recent days, has become the epicenter of the Oregon Ice raids. People are fed up, and they lit up the room with emotion.
As the City Council meeting entered its third hour of testimony, the air was thick with emotion —like a cold fog that only darkness and an ice-cold evening can bring. The last set of speakers included several younger residents of Hispanic/Latino heritage who got their turn. One of them was a Hillsboro soccer Coach named Juan Pedro Moreno Almeida. Coach Juan offered this to the Council.
“Today, I have 7 of my soccer players with me who attend Hillsboro High School, and I’d ask, I’d like to ask them to stand up right now if they can. We recently had one of our teammates lose their father and two of their uncles, and another teammate lost their older brother as well. They were taken by ICE. I want to continue to say is that, you know, as these, this, this children of immigrants, right, we always have this thought in the back of our head that someday we’re gonna have to be the financial pillar for our home. And, you know, for all the city council members and Mayor Pace as well, right, I want you to look at these kids and think about all the sacrifices that they would have to go through to become that financial pillar for their household, right? They would have to, maybe, stop going to school. They would have to give up on soccer for sure. They would have to find jobs to become that pillar for their household. Um, you know, we need to protect our community members and especially our youth, you know? It takes generations to overcome this trauma, you know? Um, and I think our, as, as our representatives, I really would like to see more action. Um, and part of the reason why I’m here today is because of an investment in leadership development, right. Please continue to invest in leadership development. If it wasn’t for leadership development programs, I wouldn’t have the confidence to be here today or to organize with my soccer kids. So, super important to, uh, invest in that,. Please help…”
After he spoke, a very somber young man approached. His name is Ignacio- He spoke clearly and with a strong, low tone. His name is Ignacio…