Copyright The Oregonian
A Hillsboro teenager’s emotional account of how immigration enforcement is affecting his own family and community has gone viral after he spoke at a Hillsboro City Council meeting earlier this week. The teen, 16-year-old Emmanuel ‘Manny’ Chavez, opened up about his personal experience at a packed meeting in Hillsboro’s auditorium on Tuesday night where speaker after speaker decried a recent escalation in immigration detentions, saying federal agents are violently pulling people out of cars, arresting them in front of businesses and schools and tearing families apart. “I just want to tell you guys that I’m scared for my parents to walk out there, to walk out of their house, because I might not be able to say goodbye to them if they go to work. I might not ever be able to say bye or see them again,” Chavez told the council, his voice breaking and tears streaming down his face. “I’m scared because of it, because they fought so hard to come here and choose a life for their kids.” His three-minute testimony has since gone viral, garnering more than 3.4 million views after a local community newspaper posted the excerpt on social media the day after the meeting. Chavez, a junior at Hillsboro High School, has been featured in People magazine, news and entertainment website Inquisitr and national Spanish-language television stations Univision and Telemundo, among others. The Oregonian is naming him with permission from his parents. Chavez’ testimony comes in the wake of a sharp increase in immigration arrests in Oregon. During the month of October, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have detained more than 300 people in the state, according to the Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition which runs a hotline where people can report ICE arrests. Many of those arrests have happened in the Portland area, including in Hillsboro where Latinos make up a quarter of the population. At the council meeting, Chavez pleaded with council members to offer more support to his community. He told them how terrifying it was to see videos every day of people detained just because they looked or sounded a certain way. “We are fighting for our rights and we are getting treated like animals,” Chavez said. “People judge us by the color of our skin and the way that we talk. And we have a president that acts like a child and doesn’t side with us because of the way he thinks about us,” he added to applause from the crowd. Chavez told The Oregonian/OregonLive on Friday that he did not plan to testify that night. He attended the meeting with his parents to show support to two friends and members of his soccer team whose relatives had been detained by ICE agents in recent weeks, he said. After hearing his coach and one of his teammates testify, Chavez signed up at the very last minute, he said. He was the last person to testify at the meeting. Chavez, who was born in Portland and has lived in both Beaverton and Hillsboro, told The Oregonian that arrests of community members, including U.S. citizens and other people with legal status, feel completely unreal to him. As does the fact that ICE is harassing teenagers like himself, as agents did recently when they held teens at gunpoint at a Hillsboro coffee shop. “It’s like a fever dream,” he said. “Except we all know that it’s real.” During his testimony, he expressed how difficult it was for a teenager to carry the burden of that reality. “I really do want something to change because I do not want to live like this,” the teen said, choking up. “As a 16 year old, I shouldn’t be scared. I should be focusing on school and I can’t even focus on school.” At the end of the testimony, Chavez covered his face with his sweater, hiding his tears. He received a standing ovation from two councilors and many people in the auditorium. Then he went to hug his mom. Community members have lauded his testimony, with teachers and councilors telling him they’re proud of him and strangers sending praise on social media, Chavez said. Juan Pedro Moreno Olmeda, Chavez’ soccer coach for the past three years, said he was glad the teen stepped up to be a leader and a voice for the community. “Manny is very charismatic, you know, he’s just a very warm person, and seeing this new side of him has really impressed me,” Moreno Olmeda said. “There’s something super admirable about the solidarity that he’s shown.” But the teenager, who is the youngest of four siblings, is unfazed by the attention. “I like that I did the right thing,” he said. For the past week, Chavez, his soccer teammates and coach have been going door-to-door and advertising on social media, selling cookies, flan and posole to collect funds for the families of his teammates, including to cover the legal fees for their detained relatives. After the video of his testimony went viral, Chavez decided to put his fame to good use. He started an online fundraiser to raise money for Hillsboro community members whose loved ones have been impacted by ICE enforcement. In two days, he’s already raised more than $8,000. And he hopes the fundraiser will go viral, just like his video. “I hope to help families like that, even if it’s something small like getting their groceries or paying one bill or something, to help them at least keep going,” he said. “Because helping out my community just feels good.”
