UPDATED 6:21 p.m.

A father who had just put his two children on a school bus was arrested last week by Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents near Portland, officials said.

On Feb. 19, the man, whom ICE identified as Tomas Galvan-Rodriguez, dropped his children off at a school bus stop, according to officials from the Tigard-Tualatin School District, where the children are enrolled. It was unclear if the children witnessed the arrest.

“Two of our students…their (parent) walked them to the school bus, the kids got on the school bus and ICE came and arrested the parent,” Jill Zurschmeide, school board director, said Monday, according to the Portland Tribune.

District Superintendent Sue Rieke-Smith said the children were connected with supportive services to make sure their housing and basic needs were met, the Tribune reported.

School board members did not say which school the children attended but noted that Washington County has seen several controversial immigration arrests over the past several years, including an arrest at the county courthouse.

“Washington County is the hot spot right now for this,” Zurschmeide said.

In a statement to The Oregonian/OregonLive, ICE representative Tanya Roman said ICE officers identified Galvan-Rodriguez and arrested him during a routine traffic stop. He is currently awaiting immigration proceedings before a federal judge, Roman said.

She attributed Galvan-Rodriguez’s arrest to his criminal background, which she said includes a 2004 conviction for a hit-and-run and a 2008 conviction for larceny, a misdemeanor charge.

Court records show that Galvan-Rodriguez damaged property in the hit-and-run, but did not injure anyone.

Roman said ICE treats certain places as “sensitive locations,” or areas where they won’t arrest people. Those places inc lude schools, school-related events and marked school bus stops when children are around.

“The location of Galvan-Rodriguez’s traffic stop and subsequent arrest did not occur at a known marked school bus stop or a location that was previously known to the officers,” Roman said.

Last week, ICE issued two subpoenas to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office demanding information on two Mexican citizens wanted for deportation who were being held at the Washington County Jail. A spokeswoman for the sheriff’s office said they would comply with the subpoenas.

Oregon’s 1987 sanctuary state law, the nation’s first, prevents law enforcement from detaining people who are in the U.S. illegally but have not broken any other law. Additionally, local law enforcement officials won’t hold criminals beyond their sentences for federal immigration agents unless they have a warrant signed by a judge.

In 2017, Tigard-Tualatin school board members passed a resolution declaring their schools a safe space for students and provided training for teachers and staff on how to respond to immigration issues. ICE generally avoids making arrests at “sensitive areas” like schools.

Rieke-Smith said the district is looking at expanding the safe space zones to “bus stops, which are an extension of our district,” the Tribune reported.

Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Oregon, has proposed legislation that would limit ICE enforcement actions at locations deemed sensitive, such as school buses and school bus stops.

“Targeting arrests where children gather is deeply concerning and does not make our communities safer,” Bonamici told the Tribune. “It only terrifies kids who must now worry about their parents instead of focusing on school.”

In a letter to families, the district noted that another relative of a student had been taken into custody by ICE last week, though no further details were given.

“We are writing to you today to affirm TTSD’s commitment to the students we serve, their safety and our dedication to our legal obligation to educate students without consideration of citizenship status,” the letter read.

A previous version of this story misattributed Jill Zurschmeide’s comments to Board Chair Maureen Wolf.

-- Kale Williams

kwilliams@oregonian.com

503-294-4048

@sfkale

Jayati Ramakrishnan contributed to this story.

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