Farmworker raids in July reveal how easily rights can erode and why communities must prepare
By Robyn Felton
On the morning of July 30, the Medford ICE facility was unusually active.
The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, in partnership with the Department of Homeland Security, had obtained over a dozen collateral arrests during raids on multiple cannabis farms in Southern Oregon. (Editor’s note: The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office has said it was working with the Drug Enforcement Administration, which is under the United States Department of Justice.) These workers had been arrested, stripped from their families and their community, and loaded onto a bus bound for the detention center in Washington.
It was here at the ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) facility in Medford that I witnessed fascism unmasked as armed men took up positions to flank the bus for its departure. I didn’t speak, I didn’t think, all I knew was I could not stand still and watch as human beings were stripped of their freedom. I approached the bus, and as the guards hurried to arrest me, I lay down on the pavement. I was quickly picked up, thrown out of the way and shackled.
I still wonder what could have been if more people, or more foresight and preparation, were available. In all, the delay I caused was no more than 15 seconds, for which I was awarded a day in jail and 18 months of enhanced state scrutiny. In the eyes of the state, I am guilty of a crime, but I have no feeling of guilt.
In the intervening months, politicians would deny the raids, the existence of detainees, and the entire incident itself. But I was there. Now, after all has been revealed in investigations by Information for Public Use, The Intercept, and Ashland.news, in spite of our state’s “sanctuary” status, these detentions have been passed off by some as a regrettably legal circumvention of state law.
But as events in Minneapolis unfold, it is increasingly clear that law provides very little protection for the innocent when the powerful hand out their orders. Many seem to believe that this is a uniquely new state of affairs, but forget that such occurrences are common throughout the history of the American project. Even in my lifetime, the deaths of the forest defender Tortuguita, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Allen Locke, Oscar Grant, and countless others come to mind. The detention of these 17 human beings from our community this July is only another tragedy. But their lives still matter. Their families matter. Their freedom matters.
It is easy to feel hopeless and alone as events like this increase in regularity, but as the danger grows, so too does everything that saves. In the days to come, we will all be faced with hard choices of our own, as masked troops become increasingly common in American cities, but we need not make these decisions alone or ill-prepared, as I was forced to.
Now is the time for us to come together and do all that is necessary to protect ourselves and our communities. If you have not already, there are a number of local Migrant and Indigenous organizations to support, such as UNETE and Coalición Fortaleza. If you wish to stay informed about local ICE activity, follow Rogue Valley Migra Watch on Facebook and Instagram (@migra_watch_rv), add PIRC’s rapid response number (888-622-1510) to your phone, and, if you see something, say something. If you wish to become more involved, attend an ICE watch training, or advocate for your workplace to become a Fourth Amendment space.
Above all, talk to your neighbors, make a plan. No one is coming to save us, but together we have the power to save ourselves.
Robyn Felton is an Ashland resident and volunteer with local ICE-watch efforts
Related stories
‘No warrant, no entry’: Rogue Valley workplaces train for encounters with ICE (Feb. 7, 2026)
Confirmed: ICE arrested 17 workers during Rogue Valley cannabis raids in July (Dec. 20, 2025)
