Protecting Immigrant Oregonians: A Community Briefing

Join us for a panel discussion with leading Oregon immigrant rights organizations

November 12, 2026 | Doors at 6 PM, Panel at 6:30 PM | PLACE Galeria, 735 NW 18th Ave | FREE

It’s been almost two turbulent years since the Trump Administration renewed its attacks on immigrant Oregonians. And this fall, we’ve seen a sharp increase in immigration arrests after officials confirmed they plan to target sanctuary jurisdictions. ICE agents have detained people in communities across the Portland metro area, including in Gresham, Troutdale, and Washington County. Federal agents have also conducted enforcement actions at an Oregon agricultural processing facility and used tear gas against people gathered in a Salem residential neighborhood. Advocates have raised concerns about increasingly aggressive tactics and barriers to detained people's access to attorneys.

That’s why we need to be informed, ready, and united to keep our community safe.

As our immigrant neighbors face uncertainty and fear, understanding how to support most effectively is critical. To support these community members, we’re bringing together representatives from the Oregon Justice Resource Center, Pueblo Unido, Innovation Law Lab, and Oregon for All to share the latest on what’s happening with ICE, the courts, and Oregon’s response, discuss how early reaction to the political fallout from the results of the midterms will affect immigration issues, and explore what you can do to support community members.

This panel discussion is in conjunction with the 7 Doors: An American Gulag exhibition by documentary photojournalist, Greg Constantine, who is proud to partner with PLACE Galeria on his exhibition, An American Gulag. His previous work, Seven Doors looked at immigration detention in several countries around the world, including the United States. In 2026, Constantine expanded his work and the essay An American Gulag. Over the past year, he has dedicated extensive periods of time in four Republican stronghold states: Oklahoma, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Missouri. The results, exhibited for the first time in Portland, reveal the total assault on immigrant communities, the destruction of families and the wealth and profits generated from the detention of immigrants in ways not shown in the headlines over the past year. This multilayered, mixed media exhibition presents personal stories from those directly affected by the Trump administration's anti-immigrant policies, as well as the efforts being made by so many to resist these policies.

Date: November 12, 2026
Time: 6:00-8:00pm (doors open at 6:00pm, panel discussion begins at 6:30pm–there will be time to view the exhibition before and after the panel discussion)
Location: PLACE Galeria, 735 NW 18th Ave, Portland, OR 97209

Tickets are FREE, but space is limited. Please reserve your spot at the link below.

Reserve your spot

BIOS:

Moderator: Bernal Cruz Muñoz, LMSW, CSWA

Bernal Cruz Muñoz is a community-based social worker, clinician, public speaker, and storyteller with more than 25 years of experience working alongside migrant children, refugees, displaced communities, and families navigating complex systems of care. His work brings together mental health, trauma-informed practice, culturally responsive care, and traditional approaches to healing.

As a speaker, facilitator, and trainer, Bernal creates opportunities for dialogue about migration, belonging, resilience, and the human experiences behind public policy. He has worked nationally and internationally, including training professionals supporting displaced populations in South America and Europe in Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS). He has also advocated for migrants and refugees with disabilities and helped develop graduate-level curriculum on forced displacement at Portland State University’s School of Social Work.

Bernal has served on Portland’s New Portlanders Policy Commission and the Multnomah County Public Health Advisory Board, helping bring migrant experiences into conversations about community well-being and public health.

Through storytelling, public speaking, and thoughtful facilitation, Bernal seeks to make space for perspectives too often overlooked, foster meaningful conversations across cultures, generations, and communities, and strengthen connections between newcomers and the communities that receive them.

Panelist: Erin McKee, Co-Director, Immigrant Rights Project, Oregon Justice Resource Center

Erin McKee is a co-founder of the Oregon Justice Resource Center and an immigration attorney who believes we’re all in this together. She began her public interest law career assisting refugees and low-income immigrants to obtain family-based and humanitarian immigration benefits. In private practice, she represented individuals fleeing persecution, families seeking to reunite, and immigrants accused of crimes, among others. She has represented clients in criminal proceedings before state courts as well as before immigration courts, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. Department of State.

Panelist: Lisbeth Marquez-Delgado, Associate Director of Navigation, Pueblo Unido

Lisbeth Marquez-Delgado is the Associate Director of Navigation at Pueblo Unido PDX. She works closely with the Senior Director of Navigation to strengthen internal systems, support staff development, coordinate rapid-response efforts, advance the Navigation Department’s strategic priorities, and ensure effective, trauma-informed navigation services for immigrant communities across Oregon.

Jess Montoya

Panelist: Jess Montoya, Network Director, Oregon For All Coalition

Jess Montoya serves as the Network Director of the Oregon For All coalition, a coalition of over 170 organizations working together to advance immigrant and refugee justice in the state of Oregon through education, research, organizing, and policy advocacy. As the daughter of immigrants from Northern Mexico, her lived experience informs her commitment to advancing immigrant and refugee justice. With a background in psychology, Jess began her career in community mental health, supporting children and families navigating crisis.
Seeking to work more directly alongside immigrant communities, she transitioned to a program funded by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, where she spent more than six years supporting unaccompanied children and their families. There, she partnered with young people from around the world whose stories reflected extraordinary resilience, courage, and hope. Those experiences strengthened Jess's commitment to advancing systems that uphold the dignity, safety, and rights of immigrant communities. Today, she works alongside coalition partners, organizers, and community leaders across Oregon to strengthen collective power and advance policies that create more just and welcoming communities for immigrants and refugees.

PANELIST: NELLY GARCIA ORJUELA

Nelly Garcia Orjuela is a Staff Attorney with Innovation Law Lab. Before joining ILL, she worked at Legal Aid Services of Oregon under a VAWA grant focused on serving Latine survivors of gender based violence. She received her J.D. from CUNY School of Law graduating through New York’s Pro Bono Scholars Program. She clerked for the Hon. Ona Wang in the Southern District of New York as a fellow of the Celina and Sonia Sotomayor Judicial Internship Program. Before law school she worked for the Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico and the Mexican Consulate in Portland. Nelly is licensed to practice in Oregon and New York.

PHOTOJOURNALIST: GREG CONSTANTINE

American/Canadian documentary photojournalist Greg Constantine is the recipient of numerous awards and recognition. He has spent years documenting the vast immigration detention system across the United States and how immigration policies during both Trump administrations are impacting individuals, families and entire communities. His work in 2026 has been supported with a 2026 Bertha Challenge Fellowship and has been published by the magazine Mother Jones in a 4-part series of long-form online essays.