I learned about outrageous behavior by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents here in Salem from a January 31 Salem Reporter story by Madeleine Moore, “U.S. citizen injured by federal agents who demanded to see ‘papers,’ union says.” Excerpt:
A woman who’s a U.S. citizen needed medical help Thursday, Jan. 29, after federal agents pulled her from her car after demanding to see her “papers,” one of the state’s largest unions said Saturday.
Service Employees International Union Local 503 said the woman, a union member, was driving to run errands when four agents stopped her on a Salem street. The agents identified themselves as federal law enforcement, according to the union’s statement.
The story had a link to a GoFundMe established for the woman by the union. Standing for Maria and her family. This is what the GoFundMe says about what happened to Maria:
My name is Florence and I am reaching out for your help to support a Union Member in Need. The details may be a bit long, but for the sake of our Home Care Worker, Maria, and her family, please take a few extra minutes to digest what happened today, January 29th 2026 at 11:00am in Salem, Oregon.A worker’s daughter was on the phone with the MAC, looking to get help. In the midst of the call, she had to hang up because ICE was attacking her mother.At the time of the incident, the worker was driving alone on her way to pay her family’s rent when a vehicle without a license plate began following her for several blocks. That vehicle stopped in front of her, and she found herself boxed in between that vehicle and another car. Four people with masks exited the vehicles. They were wearing green black vests that said POLICE.The first individual banged on her driver’s side window yelling “Papers! Papers!” Within seconds, they broke her window. The worker did not speak. She held her breath and closed her eyes, fearing they would spray a chemical agent in her face. She panicked, believing that she would likely die if they did, as she has severe asthma and is medically fragile, taking 11 different medications.After breaking the window, the agents forcibly dragged her from her van. Another agent grabbed her purse and emptied its contents onto the ground, where they found her U.S. passport. She had been carrying it because her daughter had told her to carry her passport everywhere she goes, advice her daughter learned at a Know Your Rights training. When the agents saw her U.S. passport, they let her go and left without a word.She was left alone hurt and shaken before her daughter was able to find her. She was released from the hospital late this evening, where doctors found that she had suffered a concussion, a torn rotator cuff, and bruised ribs.At the time that she was attacked, she was on an errand to pay her family’s rent and to pick up a small cake to celebrate her grandson’s 14th birthday. That child and his younger brother both have Huntington’s disease, a terminal degenerative brain disease. Our member is their main caregiver, and her daughter works full time. They had saved up to afford their rent and try to have a small birthday celebration and that is now gone.Please think about Maria and her family during this devestating time. If you are not able to contribute please share this link and show our strength.
It’s ridiculous that the agents had vests that said “Police,” because they weren’t police. No ICE agents are. They’re minimally trained to enforce immigration laws, and they don’t even do that at all competently.
In addition to the inexcusable way Maria was treated and injured, it’s disturbing that the Salem Police Department — the actual police in our town — refused to investigate what was done to Maria, which sure sounds like assault to me.
A statement by the SEIU union says:
Once the agents left the scene, Maria reached out to the police and to her daughter. Her daughter happened to be talking with union representatives at the time, and union staff were able to provide Maria and her family with support.
Salem police, however, did nothing when they were called. Rather than follow up with an injured woman who had been assaulted, the police said she needed to contact the FBI since the attackers were federal employees. Our local law enforcement should be supporting our community, particularly when people report being assaulted, regardless of the circumstances.
Sure sounds like the Salem Police Department has some explaining to do. Is the department really going to let ICE agents run roughshod over the constitutional rights of people just because they’re afraid of getting on the bad side of the Trump administration? That’s the only reason I can think of for our police department failing to investigate an assault by federal agents.
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Inexcusable that SPD refuses to investigate. How do they know who the thugs were that ripped that woman out of her car, breaking the window and injuring her? The attackers may have said they were federal agents, but they provided no identification, they were driving a vehicle without plates, and they were masked. Unless the SPD has information they’re not sharing, they don’t know either which makes this a mugging, certainly in their purview to investigate.
Maria, It is Rare Disease Awareness Month. As I read various articles about this incident today, I was outraged. This is where i live. SEIU 503 is the state employee’s union; the caregivers union. Someone on their way to buy their grandson a birthday cake was assaulted by federal agents? Are we safe to run errands? As a fellow member of a family affected by Huntington’s disease, and knowing how they are already harming our future generations through war with Venezuela, which our families rely on for research, reading this article and realizing that not only do you share in common with me civil service, caregiving, and where you live, but the worst disease known to mankind, I already know errands can be dangerous for people like us because the health of our loved ones, every minute and every second of the day, depends on us. This is a strike to my heart. All of my compassion is with you and your family now and forever.