Wednesday, 25 June 2025

Oregon wine region rocked by ICE enforcement actions



A report in Decanter today tells the story of immigration raids on Oregon vineyards. Moises Sotelo-Casas, a beloved vineyard manager and entrepreneur, was detained outside of St. Michael's Episcopal Church in Newberg, about 25 miles outside of Portland. People around the world are outraged by this action against a man who has called the region his home for decades. 

A GoFundMe campaign has raised more than $137K for his defence. According to his daughter, his feet were bound in chains and all his possessions were taken from him. Whereas the ICE agents said he had come to the US illegally in 2006 and had a criminal conviction of a DUI, there is no record of the conviction, and he had come to the US in the 1990s. He had taken steps to apply for legal citizenship under the Biden administration.

Sotelo-Casas, who founded Novo Start Vineyard Service last year, is an award-winning vineyard manager. Another case of mistaken identity?  Those masked ICE thugs are the criminals. 

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