Immigration

C.J. Ciaramella | 10.30.2025 3:30 PM

On October 15, Juan Barbosa Gomez and his wife arrived at Columbia Park in North Portland for their routine walk, unaware that they were about to enter a legal twilight zone. Suddenly, their car was surrounded by masked federal law enforcement officers, who whisked Barbosa away.

For the past two weeks, Barbosa, a 60-year-old grandfather from Mexico, has been incarcerated in the federal immigration detention system, and his family says there's been a terrible mistake. They say he has a valid work visa and no criminal record. He's lived in the U.S. for more than 30 years, working as a welder.

"His record is clean," says Sydney Smith-Mason, who was taken in by Barbosa's family at a young age and considers herself something of an adopted daughter. "He's a good guy."

"Juan himself has been a little bit of a father to me as well," Smith-Mason continues. "He helped me when I was purchasing my first car, making sure that everything was all good and checking things out. I would go to him to ask for certain advice on things. He's been a big part of my life."

Barbosa's family has been unable to secure his release or even find out any information on his case. He's been transferred to three different detention facilities in under two weeks and doesn't show up on ICE's online detainee locator. The transfers made it difficult for his family to keep track of him or keep his commissary fund filled, and more importantly, it has short-circuited their attempts to find an immigration attorney to look at his case.

Barbosa isn't the only such alleged wrongful ICE arrest in Portland. The local TV news outlet KOIN 6 reported that another Portland-area grandfather, Victor Cruz, was arrested by ICE officers on October 14 despite having Temporary Protected Status, a valid work permit, and no criminal record.

"They're not taking criminals, they're racially profiling us," Cruz's daughter, Atziri, told KOIN 6. "They're hard working, honest men who provide for........

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