ICE arrested Beaverton handyman Paulino Martin San Pedro, deported him within days without a court order or family notice

On November 18, 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in two vehicles approached Paulino Martin San Pedro on Allen Boulevard in Beaverton, Oregon, as he left a job site where he had just finished replacing windows. Martin San Pedro, 53, had lived in the United States for more than 30 years, ran a handyman business, and had three adult children and grandchildren in Oregon. His mother, who was in the car, called his son Eric Martin in tears to report the arrest.

Within three days, ICE moved Martin San Pedro from a detention facility in Tacoma, Washington to a facility in Arizona and then deported him to Mexico, without a court order authorizing his removal. His family said immigration officials pressured him into signing paperwork to "self-deport" rather than contest the removal in court. For two days after the arrest, the family had no word of his location or safety. "When they relocate, they don't tell you where they're going," his son Eric Martin said. "For two days, we were left in the dark, not knowing where my dad was or if he was safe."

Martin San Pedro told his family he witnessed dialysis and cancer patients handcuffed to their wheelchairs while in ICE custody. More than 100 people gathered in Beaverton on November 28 to demand his return, including Beaverton City Council member Nadia Hasan, who said "every resident arrested by federal agents is a loss felt by the whole community." The arrest and rapid three-state transfer came amid a sharp escalation of ICE enforcement in the Portland area, where federal authorities arrested more than 560 people the month before Martin San Pedro's arrest.

Updates

2026-02 — Martin San Pedro died in Mexico of pneumonia about three months after his deportation [1]

Martin San Pedro was hospitalized in Mexico shortly after his deportation and died of pneumonia roughly three months later, at age 53. His son, Eric Martin San Juan, said the illness followed directly from the stress of his detention and deportation to a country he had not lived in for more than 30 years: "They threw my dad out like an animal, and now I have no dad." The family traveled to Mexico to hold a farewell service; they said they had spent significant money on medical care and legal fees trying to secure his return before he died.