During the early morning hours of June 12, federal immigration agents arrested Moises Sotelo, one of Oregon’s most recognized vineyard managers. This step caused a firestorm of outrage and concern among the state’s burgeoning wine industry. Sotelo has deep roots and decades of experience in the area. He was arrested less than a block after leaving his house, just outside St. Michael’s Episcopal Church. His detention exemplifies the broader issues with immigration enforcement and its harm to local communities.
After his arrest, officials transferred Sotelo to an ICE detention center in Portland, Oregon. They soon moved him to an ICE processing center in Tacoma, Washington. By that weekend, he had been transferred more than 1,500 miles southwest to the Florence Service Processing Center in Arizona. This transfer was cause for concern for his family and attorneys who have had to fight tooth and nail to gain their access to information regarding his case.
Victoria Reader described the chaotic scene following his detention. “They didn’t identify themselves. They just came out. They didn’t even say anything. They barely began to unlock the doors,” she remembered.
The troubling conditions under which Sotelo was held have raised awareness of the broader issues with such practices within immigration enforcement. The Yamhill County District Attorney’s office found no evidence to justify DUI charges against him. This discovery only makes his arrest harder to justify.
Sotelo came to the United States in the early 1990s. He soon became a respected leader in Oregon’s growing wine community. He was the winner of the Vineyard Excellence Award from the Oregon Wine Board in 2020, for his contributions to the field. Additionally, to affirm his commitment to the industry and community, he started his own small business caring for vineyards in 2024.
Despite his prominence in the community, Sotelo’s detention has made many residents feel unsafe. Her advocacy for her hardworking peers clearly resonated with our reader. She continued, “I’m trying to do my best to keep my crew safe and protected, but there’s so much that I can’t control. Contributing to fear and intimidation in the vineyard workforce has been a growing uncertainty over immigration processes.
The state of Sotelo’s arrest has sparked questions about transparency with immigration enforcement. Anthony Van Nice, an attorney for the Sotelo family, pointed to a consistent failure to communicate by ICE leaders. He said ICE officials were honest enough and he said they’re not required to tell families or lawyers for people in custody. This might involve information about their arrest, transfer to other states or facilities, or deportation.
The momentum behind Sotelo’s campaign is building quickly. In response, the Oregon wine-growing community has united in raising support, with over $100,000 raised in a GoFundMe campaign. This level of financial backing speaks to how deeply people admire Sotelo. At the same time, it reveals the deep solidarity within his personal and professional networks.
“There’s countless other people that we don’t know. We don’t know their names, we don’t know how many have been detained, and they’re just lost in this system, which seems designed to make them disappear.”
Moises Sotelo’s case is not the outlier it should be. It calls attention to a mounting national outrage at president trump’s inhumane treatment of immigrants in the u.s. Van Nice articulated this sentiment powerfully: “We built this country on the backs of immigrant labor … To just round them up like criminals and throw them into these overcrowded detention centers, send them packing without telling their family or attorneys where they are or where they’re going, it’s inhumane. It’s a human rights issue.
Regardless of what happens as this case develops, the Oregon wine community is keeping a watchful eye and showing solidarity with Sotelo. His legacy on the people around him speaks for itself. Reader recalled how he took her under his wing when she first arrived in Oregon: “He took me under his wing and guided me and made Oregon feel like home.”