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Michael Dunne: I'm Michael Dunne. We've been so inundated by stories of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids and arrests that we might actually be numb to it all. But perhaps one element of this sad, some might say cruel, drama that is underreported is the impact on family members who aren't arrested or deported but nevertheless have to live in the aftermath.
Today on the show, we'll bring you the story of just such a family here in Eugene. Lookout Eugene-Springfield recently published a very in-depth and detailed story about what happened when a father who was in this country illegally for decades, and a real pillar in the community, was nevertheless arrested, tried and forced to leave this country. And what has happened to the family he leaves behind? Grace Chinowsky, reporter for Lookout Eugene-Springfield. Grace, it's great to see you. Thanks so much for coming in.
Grace Chinowsky: Thank you. Thanks for having me.
Michael Dunne: I really enjoyed your in-depth piece recently about one local family's ordeal with ICE. Let's start with this, and I hope I pronounced the name correctly: Who is Misael Garcia Lopez?
Chinowsky: Yes, very close. He's a 49-year-old man from central Mexico. He came to Eugene about 18 years ago and raised a family of three here, along with his wife, in west Eugene. He worked in a variety of jobs and was very much woven into the fabric of this city. Then in November, he was arrested by ICE after dropping off his son at school.
Michael Dunne: I think it was Nov. 19, 2025. A normal day. He's going to drop his child off at school. Describe what he told you about being followed.
Chinowsky: Yes. As I said, he had just exited the parking lot of his son's school. We know this because there was dashcam video from his truck that we were able to obtain, which captured those last moments. Essentially, two ICE vehicles started tailing him as he drove home. Eventually their lights and sirens came on, and he pulled over near Meadowlark Prairie. At that point, they came up to his vehicle, asked him his name, and that's when the dashcam recording shuts off. But we understand that they were not able to find valid immigration documents in his possession, according to agency records. At that point, they took him into custody, put him in the back of their vehicle and took him to Portland.
Michael Dunne: OK, pick up the story from there. Paint the picture of what his experience in ICE detention was like in Portland, and then further up the road in Tacoma.
Chinowsky: Right. So his first stop was an office in Portland, but like you said, his final destination was an ICE facility in Tacoma, Washington, known as the Northwest ICE Processing Center. It has more than 1,500 beds and has gotten, I believe, more than 3,000 complaints from inmates about conditions there. He was held there for about two months. He called his family daily, from what I understand, and a lot of his day just looked like passing the time. He talked a lot with other inmates and heard their stories, and honestly got some peace from that: card games, basketball games. But otherwise it was a very bland routine. Eventually it ended, and he went back to Mexico.
Michael Dunne: We're going to get to that in a bit, but talk about what his family was going through. In your article, you didn't use names because of some fears here, but talk in general terms about what they were going through when their father was way up the road in Tacoma.
Chinowsky: I first met Jasmine Garcia Lopez, Misael's daughter, who's 23, right after her dad was taken by ICE. We all felt like we hadn't seen many stories that answer the next questions that come to mind, which you just asked: What happens to a family when their primary provider, their father, is taken away? We really wanted to be there for what those next months looked like without him. My former colleague, Isaac Wasserman, who helped me out a lot with this story, and I would go to their house in west Eugene almost every week and just check in, talk to them about what it had been feeling like, for her, her younger brother Leo and her mom. It was a massive period of grieving, as you would imagine, for the family, and also a lot of logistical and financial stress: How do we support ourselves now that our primary provider is gone? How do we support him through the legal costs of this next ordeal? Just an immense amount of stress and sadness.
Michael Dunne: You teed it up, but pull the string a little more. The logistics of it all: They're having to raise money for his legal defense. They're having to find the money he was providing. Talk about the day-to-day. In addition to the emotions, how did they have to live their lives?
Chinowsky: We know that Jasmine's mom, whom we identified as Valeria in the story, stopped going to work altogether for fear of an encounter like this happening to her. She's also undocumented, and so certain members of the family were sheltered after this and did not feel safe leaving the house. Jasmine took on more responsibility, whether it was running more errands or acting in that logistical role when it came to communicating with lawyers and arranging letters of support for her dad's bond hearing. Eventually, the family started organizing, for example, tamale sales. They would make a ton of tamales out of their kitchen in west Eugene and sell them to friends and family to bring in a little more income.
Michael Dunne: There is rhetoric, a lot of it coming from the federal government, about people who are undocumented, and I think what's great about your piece is that you point out, yes, these were undocumented people, or certainly the father was. But there's also the reality: This is a family that fits in very well in the local economy and the local community. Talk a little about the fact that they were doing what all of us are doing. They're getting by. They're contributing to the community. Talk about their place in our Eugene community.
Chinowsky: That was one thing the bond hearing process really illuminated for us. As part of that, Misael's family and friends submitted more than a dozen letters of support that vouched for his character and explained more about what he was contributing to our community in Eugene. A lot of it was acts of service for his loved ones. We know he was someone who was always first to volunteer to help out with manual labor, or otherwise with child care. There were a lot of examples of him helping out other families, taking kids to and from sports or school or whatever. We also know they were active members of a Catholic church here, and their faith is very meaningful to them. In general, I think that since the story came out, the response we've gotten from other community members has really shown that this is someone who is very missed in our community. As you said, he had no criminal record. He had a speeding ticket and a couple of disputes in small claims court, and that's it.
Michael Dunne: I want to get into what ICE told you. I know they responded via statements. In asking about ICE's response, there's a quote you got from them that I think is instructive, because a lot of this is being framed as us versus them, ICE versus everybody else. They weren't going to address your questions about some of their tactics, especially identifying vehicles, because that would place an even bigger target on their agents' backs, and I think that's what's happening here in a way. I want your comments on this. A lot of this is being framed as ICE agents being in danger, but they're not necessarily talking that much about the people ICE is placing in danger. What did they tell you?
Chinowsky: That's an interesting question. Going into this reporting process, I'm a complete novice on any sort of immigration reporting, a field of expertise many reporters are far better than me at. But with my very limited understanding of the way ICE was responding to media requests, we knew their response was going to be very limited when it came to actual information sharing, regarding tactics or what their mission was that day. In many ways, my job as a reporter was to work around that until I was finally able to reach out and give them everything I had and say, well, what do you think now? It didn't change much. No matter how detailed my questions were, it seemed like they were going to respond that way regardless.
Michael Dunne: Often when spokespeople get back to a reporter, they use language that's as neutral as possible. But it was interesting: One of the quotes, just the first few words of the sentence, was, "This alien knew the consequences of violating U.S. immigration law." I have to say, and I've been in PR a lot of my career, that's a very aggressive way to characterize a person. It seemed like their responses back to you were almost authoritarian. What were your thoughts on that?
Chinowsky: I think almost all readers can see the very clear contrast there, between the richness of his character and, I would say, the simplicity of the way his story was described by a federal agency. We had discussions about how best to include quotes from ICE, and we opted not to dilute what they said, because we thought it was important for people to see that, in response to some very fair questions, they did not choose to sanitize their language, if that's the right way to put it. That rhetoric stayed in there regardless.
Michael Dunne: You do talk about the fact that he had some earlier border crossings in his life. How does that fit into what has happened to him currently?
Chinowsky: Like many people who immigrate to the United States, it's not a super clean-cut operation most of the time. People still have families that remain in their countries of origin when they leave, and that was the case for Misael. He left Mexico for the first time when he was a new father in his early 20s. For many reasons he had to go back a couple of times to see people he loved and check in on family, and because of that, it played a big role in how his case turned out legally. Immigration judges, who sit under the executive branch, these days are interpreting that more strongly when it comes to whether they grant bond in people's cases. So Misael's chances of reuniting with his family while his case went through the legal system were limited because of this, I don't want to say new policy, but this new interpretation. It's complicated, but essentially, in ways they once were flexible and understanding about that, they no longer are.
Michael Dunne: Talk a little about his trial and the appearances before the judge, how that all played out, and what you found out about that.
Chinowsky: That was one of the most interesting parts of this story for me to report. I spoke with his attorney, Hillary Smith, who explained how the judge was able to elicit details from Misael about some of those earlier border crossings without them necessarily being in evidence. In that way, Misael's story fit right into this concern that judges are increasingly cracking down on earlier crossings, in ways they usually were more flexible about.
Michael Dunne: He goes through trial. Talk about his ultimate decision, which I believe is called voluntary departure.
Chinowsky: Yes. His bond was denied, which essentially means he would not be able to reunite with his family while his case moved forward. At that point, many migrants choose to get out of detention because of how difficult this process is to manage while you're behind bars. Misael took that route. Voluntary departure is also known as self-deportation. It's essentially when you tell the government you're leaving, and in exchange, they don't give you a removal order, which would bar you from re-entering the U.S. for 10 years. The idea is that because Misael took a voluntary departure, it would be easier for him to one day return to the United States. That process in and of itself is expensive and difficult, especially to manage across borders, so there's not necessarily a clear timeline for when or if that will happen, but it is more of an option because he took that avenue.
Michael Dunne: How is his life back in Mexico right now?
Chinowsky: It's difficult. Something he shared with me as part of the story was that the idea of some of his family moving to reunite with him back in Mexico was bittersweet, because he knew that financially it's just harder to get by there. He was struggling to find work when he first moved. A lot of it is manual labor, and he has a bad shoulder injury that made that difficult. There are also two families there, his and his wife's, that support themselves but were also relying on some of their income here, so that needs to be replaced as well.
Michael Dunne: He has family in Mexico. Is there some hope that he can return? Is it a faint hope? I don't know what his emotions are, thinking, OK, I am home in Mexico, but I want to be someplace else.
Chinowsky: I would say for now it's just about readjusting to this current chapter. I think things have changed so fast already for the family that maybe longer-term aspirations aren't something they can entertain yet.
Michael Dunne: What about his family now? How are they coping? How are they dealing with all this?
Chinowsky: When Misael took his voluntary departure back to Mexico, it set up an almost impossible decision for the rest of the family. His wife, Valeria, again a pseudonym, is also undocumented and felt she would need to return to be with him if he had to leave the country. She wanted to take their 11-year-old son, Leo, along with them so he could still have his parents. Just two days ago, they took that flight to Mexico and reunited with Misael, and that new chapter for their family is beginning as their other two children remain in Eugene.
Michael Dunne: So some of the family will stay here, some are back in Mexico. How old are the children who are remaining here in Eugene?
Chinowsky: They're both in their 20s.
Michael Dunne: OK. So they've established a life here, and I guess they're going to live in two separate worlds to some degree.
Chinowsky: Basically, yeah.
Michael Dunne: As a reporter, and you talked about the fact that your normal beat is city politics, I think what's wonderful is taking a journalist outside of the beat and putting them into a very different story. Talk a little about your process, because obviously it was an emotional story, but also one with a lot of moving parts. How did you approach this project?
Chinowsky: It was not a super Type A operation, I will say. Lookout is a startup newsroom, and in many ways, like any big story we do, it was a bit pioneering for our team. I would pawn off some city government stories to other reporters who very graciously helped out, as I kind of locked myself in my room and poured over documents or did interviews. A huge amount of it was building trust, and we made a lot of time for that. We preserved a lot of time for that, going over to the family's house and not necessarily recording or doing any type of actual reporting, but just sitting there and talking and making time for small talk, for things that had nothing to do with the story, because we wanted to find out who they are, not just what happened to them on that November day.
Michael Dunne: It's also a very visual story. You've got stills, you've got video. You weave this whole thing together. Obviously a lot has happened to this family through very official channels, the federal government and whatnot. Was it hard to establish trust? Sometimes people have reasons not to trust journalists. Was that difficult to establish?
Chinowsky: Honestly, no, and that was one of the main blessings of meeting the Garcia Lopez family. I was extremely cautious throughout the reporting process, and when it came to explaining to them what the implications of speaking on the record meant for their family, like when you Google yourself, your name is going to come up, and that is a scary thing if there are members of the family who are not documented. We tried to be very clear about that. But at no point in the process did they question our intentions, or carry in some of the assumptions that people who watch more national news, as opposed to local news, may pick up. Obviously, there were members of the family who met me many times but never spoke to me on the record, and that was totally OK.
Michael Dunne: It's a great piece. She is Grace Chinowsky, a reporter with Lookout Eugene-Springfield. We'll link to the article on our website as well. Thank you so much for the story, and thanks for coming in and talking to us.
Chinowsky: Thank you.
Michael Dunne: That's the show for today. All episodes of Oregon on the Record are available as a podcast at klcc.org. Monday on the show, several nonprofits in Lane County are merging to become more impactful in the community, and we'll talk about their collaboration. I'm Michael Dunne, host of Oregon on the Record. Thanks for listening.
