President Donald Trump’s relentless shoves for mass deportations have left an aftershock of whiplash immigration policy — continuing to stir fear and uncertainty much closer to home.

Those tremors are deeply felt in Washington County, local organizations say, which is why a Forest Grove-based nonprofit has stepped up to fill a gap in accessible legal assistance.

Under legal accreditation from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Access Programs, Adelante Mujeres has created a new pathway for community members to access immigration legal services — free of charge.

The accreditation was announced earlier this year, but it’s been a long time coming, Elizabeth Aguilera, the organization’s communications director, said.

“We’ve had legal navigators for a while — people in our leadership and advocacy program who help folks get connected to the resources they need,” Aguilera said. “But adding this extra component of having a lawyer on staff is really fantastic, because it just takes away another one of those barriers.”

The addition reinforces the organization’s mission to support Latine women and families through holistic services — from small business training to child care and education. In light of recent federal actions, access to immigration legal help has become an increasingly urgent need within Washington County, she noted.

“We always build our programs around what the community is asking for and what it needs,” Aguilera said. “There is a big gap between the number of people who need immigration services in Oregon and what is actually available. And there’s an even bigger gap for Spanish-language services. We’re only at the very beginning of filling that gap.”

Local roots, national shifts

The organization’s current legal team includes an accredited representative as well as attorney Nanci Rios — who grew up in Washington County and graduated from Glencoe High School.

For Rios, it’s a full-circle moment. Her interest in immigration took off in high school after joining Adelante Mujeres’ Chicas Youth Development program and working with Cristina Delgado, now the nonprofit’s accredited legal representative.

“I come from an immigrant family, so that kind of pushed me into this pathway,” Rios said. “I wanted to do something for my community, and I knew that asking a lawyer for help is really expensive — that’s another reason why folks don’t seek legal help.”

After attending Portland Community College and earning her degree from Pacific University in 2019, Rios went on to law school in Rhode Island. She would eventually find herself back in Oregon for a two-year fellowship with Adelante Mujeres before stepping in as its full-time attorney at the beginning of 2025.

And her return comes at a time of sweeping change: Since Trump’s inauguration, his administration has issued a flurry of executive orders aimed at reducing immigration — from halting refugee admissions to cutting funding for organizations that support undocumented immigrants.

More recently, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the administration in revoking special protections for thousands of Venezuelans, clearing the way for potential deportations.

Rios remembers preparing for disruption in the days after Trump’s election — filing as many temporary protected status applications as possible before the rules could change.

“After Trump was elected, we knew this wasn’t going to be easy,” she said. “So we did as much work as we could between the election and inauguration. It was just work, work, work — because we didn’t know exactly what he was going to do, but we knew it wasn’t going to benefit the immigration community.”

The times remain precarious: The administration has since rolled back restrictions on where immigration arrests can take place, allowing enforcement officers to detain migrants in previously protected spaces like schools and churches.

“There have been so many changes,” Rios said. “It’s just so chaotic that you don’t know what the next step is going to be — or if you should file something, if it’s actually going to stick, or if it’ll be revoked the next week.”

Meeting a need

Through a connection with the Equity Corps of Oregon — a statewide universal legal representation program established by the legislature in 2022 — Adelante Mujeres helps individuals and families navigate the complexities of immigration law, including green card and citizenship applications, as well as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) renewals.

“We do a variety of immigration services, but we mostly focus on asylum right now, because that’s where the biggest demand is,” Rios said. “A lot of my clients are families who fear returning to their home country — they’ve been threatened by gangs, experienced domestic violence or had a family member hurt. And sometimes those experiences continue here.”

Those challenges are often compounded by delays in the system, which can prevent people from working and lead to food insecurity or housing instability, Rios said.

“But working at an organization with a lot of resources means that even if we cannot provide housing stipends or things like that, we can refer them to our community partners,” she said.

Rumors over federal immigration enforcement coming to Washington County have been whispered throughout the area over the past few months, seeing community members avoid going out to shop or even attend work and school.

And as those very local fears only seem to grow, the organization is planning to expand its services, eyeing the addition of another accredited representative this summer.

“We’re only at the beginning of serving this need,” Aguilera said. “But one step in the right direction helps — and we hope to continue building from here.”