The Bend City Council denounced the Trump administration’s mass deportation effort and awarded a nonprofit $100,000 to help families affected by the immigration crackdown.
The move came in response to calls for support by the Latino Community Association, a Central Oregon nonprofit providing support services for immigrants. Half of the funding awarded Wednesday will help the nonprofit work with the City to produce Bend’s Welcoming Week, the annual slate of events promoting diversity and culture, and connecting people to resources. The other half will set up an emergency fund for people whose loved ones are detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“There are consequences that we cannot prevent as a city and as a community, but we are not powerless either,” Bend City Councilor Ariel Mendéz said at the Wednesday meeting. A vote approving the resolution and funding was unanimous. Money will come from the General Fund and a sponsorship fund geared toward community engagement and inclusivity.
It’s the second time the Council has expressed solidary against federal immigration enforcement, following a policy adopted in January detailing how city staff would respond should agents attempt to operate on City property. Bend was one of a handful of cities in Oregon that took an opposing stance during a string of violence and fatal shootings by immigration officers in Portland and Minnesota. Later that month, Gov. Tina issued an executive order creating a council for responding to immigration enforcement.
Catalina Frank, executive director of the Latino Community Association, said Central Oregon hasn’t seen the same level of ICE activity as other parts of the state, but the immigrant community is bracing for it.
“I really hope we don’t have to use the funds,” Frank said in an interview.
Frank said the program will distribute stipends of about $2,000 per family. If ICE detains the breadwinner of a family, for example, they might need support buying food or paying rent.
A new report from the University of Washington Center for Human Rights shows a surge in immigration arrests in the final quarter of 2025 across Oregon and Washington, with more than twice as many people detained than any period in the last five years. Multnomah, Washington and Marion counties saw the sharpest increases in Oregon, according to the report.
Frank said she is aware of 16 deportations in Central Oregon since January 2025. She told the City Council in January about reports of “forceful tactics” in other parts of the state, including racial profiling and break-ins.
The resolution adopted Wednesday described a “disturbing pattern of constitutional and human rights violations by federal immigration enforcement authorities. These egregious actions have included unnecessary and unjustified violence and the tragic loss of human life.”
“It’s really difficult to quantify the impact of immigration activities in our community,” said Melissa Kamanya, a Bend housing staffer serving temporarily as a liason to the city’s Human Rights and Equity Commission, told the Council on Wednesday. “While some may think it’s not here yet, it can’t be impacting yet, there are kids that don’t go to school, folks that don’t go to work, groceries that aren’t being purchased at the store because people are too afraid to leave their homes.”
Frank said the support program is open to all immigrant families affected by federal enforcement, not just those from Latin American countries.
She thanked the City for the support.
“Unequivocally, immigration is a strength of this community and this country, and we will keep saying that, because it’s true,” Bend Mayor Melanie Kebler said Wednesday.
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