Arrests occurred at places like Lowe’s, Walmart, WinCo, Home Depot, Fred Meyer, Costco, Safeway and Ross, coalition reports A rising number of Oregon immigrants are being arrested outside big-box stores and supermarkets, according to data compiled by the Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition, which tracks and verifies immigration arrests within the state. Nearly one in three immigration arrests reported to the coalition in August took place outside a big-box store or supermarket, the group said. “We don’t know exactly why big-box store detentions are increasing,” the coalition said in a statement to The Oregonian/OregonLive. “We encourage these stores to do all they can to get (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) off their property and protect Oregonians who are working, shopping, going to the gym, and otherwise going about their lives.” A total of 52 immigration arrests outside Oregon big-box stores and supermarkets were verified by the coalition between Jan. 1 and Sept. 9. Twenty-seven of those arrests have occurred since Aug. 1. When The Oregonian/OregonLive asked Homeland Security for confirmation and comment on the data, an unnamed spokesperson said, “For operational security and the safety of our officers, ICE will not disclose or discuss law enforcement operations.” The arrests include the early morning detainment of Juan Miguel Aldape-Palacios and his two coworkers outside a Lowe’s in McMinnville on Aug. 24. The three had gone to Lowe’s to buy supplies for a construction job, Unidos Bridging Community, a Latino advocacy group in Yamhill County, said in a news release. The group did not provide the names of Aldape-Palacios’ coworkers. Email newsletter signup One of the men was released after agents confirmed that he is a U.S. citizen, but Aldape-Palacios and his other coworker were arrested, the group said. An unnamed ICE spokesperson confirmed Aldape-Palacios, who is from Mexico, was arrested in a “targeted enforcement operation.” The spokesperson said he lacks legal status to remain in the country and will remain in custody pending his immigration proceedings. Lowe’s didn’t immediately respond to a request seeking Thursday. Aldape-Palacios’ family said through Unidos Bridging Community that he has no criminal record and that he and his wife have lived in Newberg for about 22 years where they raised three children. A search for his name in Oregon court records didn’t elicit any results. “He is also a critical caregiver for a minor child with special needs,” the advocacy group said in a news release. Arrests have also taken place outside stores like Lowe’s, Walmart, WinCo, Home Depot, Fred Meyer, Costco, Safeway and Ross, according to the Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition. The three stores with the highest number of arrests in the parking lots of their Oregon stores this year are Walmart with 17, WinCo with six and Home Depot with seven, according to the coalition’s data. “To the impacted community, we always encourage folks to know their rights,” the Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition said in a statement. Kelly Hellbusch, a spokesperson for Walmart, referred questions about immigration arrests to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and requested to see the data the newsroom received from the Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition, but otherwise declined to comment. A spokesperson for WinCo didn’t respond to a request seeking comment. A Home Depot spokesperson said store officials “aren’t notified that immigration enforcement activities are going to happen.” “We aren’t involved in the operations,” the unnamed Home Depot spokesperson said in a statement. “We aren’t coordinating with ICE or Border Patrol. We cannot legally interfere with federal enforcement agencies, including preventing them from coming into our stores and parking lots.” In early December, masked federal agents entered the Home Depot in The Dalles and arrested a customer, which advocates at the time described as unprecedented. Most arrests have been carried out in store parking lots. Federal authorities at the time didn’t respond to multiple inquiries seeking comment on the arrest. The Home Depot spokesperson shared additional information on the store’s website about immigration arrests in its parking lots, which says its primary focus is the safety and well-being of customers, associates and the communities the home improvement retailer serves. The website says that because Home Depot “stores and parking lots are publicly accessible, law enforcement agents do not require a warrant to enter these areas.” “We comply with all applicable federal and local laws in every community where we do business,” the retailer says on its website. Previously, federal agents have run people’s license plates in what they described as “target rich” areas to carry out arrests. Home Depot says that, like many other retailers, it uses license plate readers in its parking lots to detect and prevent theft and for the safety of its customers. “We do not grant access to our license plate readers to federal law enforcement,” the store said on its website. In a separate incident, ICE agents arrested Martin Anguiano, 63, on Sept. 10 at the Safeway in Seaside where he had gone to buy supplies for his restaurant, Guadalajara Taco Shop, KMUN reported. His family declined to be interviewed by The Oregonian/OregonLive this week. Anguiano had owned and operated the restaurant with his family for 23 years, the news organization reported. Homeland Security told KMUN that Anguiano had been arrested in 1993 for possession of a controlled substance and that a judge had ordered him deported at the time. After his deportation, he returned to the country, the news outlet reported. Safeway didn’t respond to inquiries seeking comment.