FILE – In a photo provided by Latino Community Association, baile folklórico dancers perform at Latino Fest in Madras, Ore. on Sept. 14, 2024.
Carmina Morgado / Provided by Latino Community Association
Concerns about rising U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests have had a chilling effect on many Latino cultural events in the Pacific Northwest this year. Many landmark events have been canceled, including several that celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month.
Hispanic Heritage Month starts Sept. 15, and coincides with Independence Day for many Latin American countries. Some annual events will still take place, but the cancellation of many of these celebrations highlights the impact the Trump administration’s immigration policies are having on communities in Oregon and Washington.
President Donald Trump has aggressively pushed to increase deportations, stating on the campaign trail that he would deport millions of immigrants.
The administration also has said it would target sanctuary jurisdictions, or cities, counties or states that have rules limiting how local officials can work with federal agents.
Both Washington and Oregon are sanctuary states, and ICE activity in the area is rising. Data from the Deportation Data Project show there were around 1,660 arrests in the first seven months of 2025 out of the Seattle Field Office. That’s up from around 1,570 in all of 2024. The Seattle Field Office covers Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.
Organizers of many of the canceled events say they fear ICE officers could target spaces where people gather. Some of the canceled events have previously drawn thousands of people and have been celebrated in the Pacific Northwest for years.
Tacos and Tequila; Hispanic Heritage events canceled in Spokane, Wash.
The nonprofit organization Latinos en Spokane is one of the organizations that decided to cancel its upcoming Hispanic Heritage Month events.
These include their stand-alone Independence Day celebrations for Mexico, Venezuela and other Latin American countries. Executive director Jennyfer Mesa cited safety concerns as the reason.
“We are not in a time of celebration. We can’t celebrate when we know that our kids are being left without parents, that we are living in absolute fear every single day, and we continue to be targeted,” Mesa said.
El Mercadito, a Latino farmers market the organization hosts, will still be held on the last Saturday of each month and some events will still take place on a smaller scale there.
The Tacos y Tequila Festival, an annual two-day celebration of Latino culture in Spokane, was also canceled. The festival was scheduled for Aug. 23 and 24. The event is hosted by Nuestras Raíces Community Center, a nonprofit serving the Latino community in Eastern Washington. It typically draws about 7,000 attendees each day during the festival.
The Pacific Northwest Folklorico Festival in Seattle
The fourth annual Pacific Northwest Folklorico Festival in Seattle also didn’t happen this year due to concerns for participants’ safety. The festival started in 2022 and was scheduled to take place at the end of July.
Joyas Mestizas, the nonprofit that puts on the event, announced the cancellation in early July on social media.
“We are angry at the ICE raids and racist immigration policies that tear families apart, and in canceling our event we commit to prioritizing the safety of our community,” the statement read.
The festival isn’t the only cultural event to be canceled in the Seattle area over fears of immigration enforcement. The Thing Music Festival was created in 2019 as a spinoff of Sasquatch! Festival. For the first time, organizers had planned to dedicate one night, Aug. 16, to highlight Latin artists, but canceled the show.
The Duwamish River Festival, which is typically celebrated in Seattle’s South Park neighborhood in August, was also canceled due to fears of exposing community members to ICE.
El Grito in Hillsboro, Ore., moves to online-only celebration
The Washington County nonprofit Centro Cultural decided to transition its annual El Grito celebration of Mexican Independence to an online-only event this year.
El Grito, or “the cry,” is celebrated by Mexican communities across the globe each September. It commemorates the moment a priest in the town of Dolores, Mexico, rang the church bell on the morning of Sept. 16, 1810, to call the Mexican people to fight for independence against the Spanish.
Centro Cultural announced it would broadcast this year’s El Grito celebration on its social media channels on Sept. 15.
Latino Fest and Latinx Fiesta Celebración in Central Oregon
The Latino Fest in Madras is another annual celebration that won’t be happening this year. The Latino Community Association has organized the event every September, except during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
“There is heightened fear among immigrant community members due to recent immigration enforcement actions, anti-immigrant rhetoric, or rumors of raids or targeting,” Executive Director Catalina Sánchez Frank said in an April statement.
Central Oregon Community College in Bend also canceled its Latinx Fiesta Celebración in April. The decision was announced just four days before the event was scheduled to take place.
The press release said the decision was made “in alignment with similar decisions by community partners.”
As organizers across the region evaluate the safety of large cultural gatherings that could be targeted by ICE, it’s unclear if many of these celebrations will return next year.
This story comes to you with reporting from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.
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