---
title: "In Oregon's 'Little Mexico,' the World Cup feels like a homecoming"
description: "Woodburn, Oregon, lies a thousand miles from the Mexican border, but in a town built by Mexican farmworkers and bound together by soccer, Mexico's run at the 2026 World Cup has played out like a family celebration."
category: "Sports"
category_url: https://newsparlor.com/category/sports
author: "Thomas Berger"
published: 2026-06-30T15:18:00.000Z
updated: 2026-06-30T15:18:00.000Z
canonical: https://newsparlor.com/article/woodburn-oregon-mexico-world-cup-soccer
tags: ["world-cup-2026", "mexico", "soccer", "oregon", "community"]
---
# In Oregon's 'Little Mexico,' the World Cup feels like a homecoming

Woodburn, Oregon, lies a thousand miles from the Mexican border, but in a town built by Mexican farmworkers and bound together by soccer, Mexico's run at the 2026 World Cup has played out like a family celebration.

The green, white and red have been everywhere in Woodburn this summer — on jerseys, in windows, painted on the faces of children watching the World Cup on screens set up outside local restaurants.

## A town built by migration

Woodburn, a town of about 31,000 in Oregon's Willamette Valley, is one of the most Mexican places in the Pacific Northwest. About 61 percent of its residents are Latino — the highest share of any sizable city in Oregon — and, by the city's own account, [some 95 percent of its downtown businesses are Latino-owned](https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/woodburn/). Locals call it "Little Mexico."

The roots run back generations. During the Second World War, with farm labor scarce, the Bracero Program brought [more than 15,000 Mexican workers to Oregon](https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/woodburn/) between 1942 and 1947. Many came to Woodburn, long known as a berry-growing center, to pick strawberries and other crops. When the program ended, families stayed or returned, turning seasonal work into a permanent home.

## Soccer as a common language

In a community like this, soccer is more than a pastime. It is a thread tying American-born children to the country their parents or grandparents left, and the local high school has built a strong soccer tradition over the years. When Mexico plays, the games become shared events — a reason to gather, cook, and cheer for *El Tri*, the national team, together.

Mexico's appearance at the 2026 World Cup, co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada, gave that feeling a global stage. As Mexico played its way through the tournament, residents packed into restaurants and homes for watch parties, [ESPN reported](https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/49190018/how-mexico-world-cup-run-brought-small-oregon-town-life), turning ordinary afternoons into block-party-like celebrations of a country that, for many here, still feels close.

## A difficult backdrop

The festivities arrived after an anxious stretch for the town. In late October 2025, immigration agents [detained about 31 Woodburn residents](https://www.centraloregondaily.com/news/regional/ice-raid-woodburn-oregon-trump/article_b26f6087-d4e5-46f0-b517-50f113c60d8b.html), and on November 21 the city council passed a resolution declaring a "local state of emergency" over the economic and humanitarian impact of federal immigration enforcement. A federal judge later found some of the detentions unlawful and ordered several people released. Against that uneasy backdrop, the tournament offered the community a chance to come together around something joyful.

## More than a game

For families with roots in Mexico, the World Cup is partly about soccer and partly about identity — a way to honor where they came from while building a life where they are. Younger players watch Mexico's stars and imagine their own futures in the game, which for some has become a route to scholarships and opportunity. In Woodburn, a town a long way from Mexico that has made Mexico part of itself, the tournament has been a reminder of how a single sport can knit a community together.