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When Catalina Sánchez Frank applied for the executive director position at the Latino Community Association (LCA) in Bend, she had no idea how much the U.S. presidential election would impact the role.
A longtime volunteer with the organization, Sánchez Frank joined LCA a decade ago when she first moved to Bend and was seeking community. Originally from Colombia, Sánchez Frank’s family migrated to the U.S. a quarter-century ago at a particularly dangerous time during the South American country’s decades-long civil war.
Before Bend and volunteering with LCA, Sánchez Frank worked as a product manager in California — a background she imagined would help her elevate LCA’s mission of empowering Latino families and creating opportunities for advancement for more people in Central Oregon.
After a six-month long hiring process, Sánchez Frank started on Jan. 16, four days before President Donald Trump took office, in a completely different political climate from the one when her hiring process began. Gone, she said, was the hope that she’d have time to orient herself in the role before being thrown into the spotlight. A flurry of executive orders, directives and proclamations quickly followed Trump’s inauguration, challenging established refugee programs and vastly changing immigration — specifically at the southern border, where Trump declared an “invasion” was occurring.
Following these changes, the Source Weekly spoke with Sánchez Frank about how she’s organizing workers and volunteers at the Latino Community Association to respond to the moment and the concerns many migrants in Central Oregon have expressed.
Source Weekly: What were you imagining you would be doing before the election, and how did that change?
Catalina Sánchez Frank: I was dreaming of the position. I just said to my team, before I was hired, “I can’t wait to come see how you’re doing things, how to get to know what you’re doing for the community, and how we can improve on that and become stronger and provide better service to our clients.”
My first day was Jan. 16, just a few days before the inauguration. We knew things were going to happen, especially here in Central Oregon. In general, where there’s polarization on how people view the immigration issue, there’s going to be conflict. What we didn’t expect was only three days after the inauguration, we’d have our first deportation case coming from Bend. Word spread out in the community rather quickly through social media and text messages. The fear is real. That’s what shifted.
SW: How did you respond to those initial reports of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers being in Bend?
CSF: With that first case, people wanted to confirm the rumors. Was it a raid? Are they in Central Oregon? Who are they after? Are they going to come for our families? Can we send our kids to school? Can we go to church? Another thing I’ve learned in these past two weeks, is that the Latino Community Association is positioned as a credible source of information in the community. We had to quickly connect to organizations and partners that could help us verify if the rumors were true.
SW: Is it important to verify so that you don’t have unnecessary fear or misinformation in the community?
CSF: Yes, that’s exactly what it is. We can’t control the spread of the news, but at least try to reaffirm that they [ICE] can’t be here doing things that are unlawful. We’re protected by the sanctuary laws, right now, and trying to keep people from spreading misinformation is very important to us. Also, because if we can confirm whether there is a threat, then we can escalate those cases because we have access to legal representation.
Editor’s note: Oregon’s sanctuary law dictates that state and local police and government agencies can’t help federal authorities with immigration and enforcement directly, or indirectly, without a judicial warrant.
SW: Given the concern and worry you’re hearing from Latinos in Central Oregon, how is the association working to reach community members and offer support or education when it feels like gathering could be difficult or raise the possibility of being a target for ICE?
CSF: We have an ICE response policy in place for employees. And we got approved to teach staff if something were to happen in our offices, what they needed to see, like the warrant orders signed by the judge in order for ICE to be able to access the premises. We remind them to know their cards — cards that remind people that they have the right to remain silent, that we cannot expect justice.
We’re working on relaunching in-person meetings with partners like school districts to see what they’re doing, and how we can support those families that have students that are afraid to go to school, or whose parents are afraid to send their kids to school. So, working on building those relationships with the law enforcement, also the sheriffs’ departments, and establishing those communications… I might sound very scattered, but there’s a lot going on that we’re planning on how to outreach to the community.
Events that were probably public and in person, we’re moving back to virtual. We’re starting to find ways to create conversation. Perhaps in the form of Facebook Lives. Because we don’t want to gather everyone in one space. There’s a high concern about how security is going to impact the way we do events also. Thinking ahead, we might not have Latino Fest this year.
“What we didn’t expect was only three days after the inauguration, we’d have our first deportation case coming from Bend.” —Catalina Sánchez Frank
SW: What would you like people to know about the LCA?
CSF: The Latino Community Association has been here 25 years. I think we’re well known by the people we serve. We are definitely in a region that is predominantly white, and there are disparities in access to services and wealth. The political climate right now makes it more evident that some people may not want the immigrant population here. I cannot speak as to what the economic impact is from Latino immigrants to Central Oregon, because I do not have those statistics. But if you think about who is in the construction sites, in the landscaping business for the golf courses that are here, who are the folks who are the cleaning services at hotels, at homes… it is an important piece of how our community works. And maybe, I would invite people to think a little bit about that. When you live here and you play here, who are the people helping you?
This article appears in The Source Weekly February 13, 2025.
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