5 days ago
A Pro-Trump Community Reckons With Losing a Beloved Immigrant Neighbor
Voters here in Oregon's rural Yamhill County have backed Donald Trump for three presidential elections in a row, most recently by a six-point margin. His promises to crack down on immigration resonated in these working-class communities.
Then last month ICE detained Moises Sotelo, a beloved but undocumented Mexican immigrant who has lived in the county for 31 years and owns a vineyard management company employing 10 people. Two of his children were born here and are American citizens, and Sotelo was a pillar of his church and won a wine industry award — yet he was detained for five weeks and on Friday was deported to Mexico, his family said.
'Moises's story just really shook our community,' Elise Yarnell Hollamon, the City Council president in Newberg, Sotelo's hometown, told me. 'Everyone knows him, and he has built a reputation within our community over the last few decades.'
The result has been an outpouring of support for Sotelo, even in this conservative county (which is also my home). More than 2,200 people have donated to a GoFundMe for the family, raising more than $150,000 for legal and other expenses, and neighbors have been dropping off meals and offering vehicles and groceries.
'Oh, my God, it's been insane,' said Alondra Sotelo Garcia, his adult daughter, who was born in America. 'I knew he was well known, but I didn't know how big it would blow up to be.'
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