Gov. Tina Kotek stated on Friday her administration will proceed adhering to Oregon’s sanctuary legislation regardless of receiving a letter from a nonprofit allied with President-elect Donald Trump warning of federal prosecution and civil lawsuits for doing so.
“I stay targeted on delivering outcomes for the problems Oregonians care about most,” Kotek stated in a press release. “I stand by Oregonians’ state-guaranteed protections and civil liberties.”
Days earlier than Christmas, the Washington, D.C.-based America First Authorized Basis despatched a letter to Kotek stating the group had “recognized your jurisdiction as a sanctuary jurisdiction that’s violating federal legislation,” and obstructing immigration legislation carries “severe penalties.”
“Such lawlessness topics you and your subordinates to important danger of felony and civil legal responsibility,” an legal professional for the group, James Rogers, wrote in a Dec. 23 letter to Kotek posted on-line. “Accordingly, we’re sending this letter to place you on discover of this danger and demand that you simply adjust to our nation’s legal guidelines.”
Oregon’s sanctuary legislation was enacted within the Eighties and prohibits police from cooperating with federal officers on immigration enforcement.
Kotek has not responded to the letter, spokesperson Elisabeth Shepard stated on Friday.
America First Authorized Basis was based in 2021 by Stephen Miller, Trump’s incoming deputy chief of workers for coverage, as a conservative reply to the American Civil Liberties Union. Trump, who takes workplace Monday, has pledged the most important deportation operation in American historical past. The group says it despatched comparable letters to about 250 officers at state and native governments it recognized as sanctuary jurisdictions, together with in Republican-controlled states equivalent to Nebraska.
As purported proof of the detrimental impression of Oregon’s sanctuary legislation, Rogers cited a March 2024 case by which Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and different officers in Trump’s dwelling state blamed Oregon for not performing rapidly sufficient to extradite a person who was reportedly needed in Washington County on rape and intercourse abuse expenses.
On the time, Washington County prosecutors stated that Florida officers hadn’t requested Oregon to hunt Juan Jose-Sebastian’s switch to the western state.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement instructed a Florida TV station that Jose-Sebastian entered the nation as an unaccompanied minor in 2015 and was ordered to be deported to Guatemala in 2019.
Kotek finally authorized a request from prosecutors to extradite Jose-Sebastian, which the Washington County District Lawyer’s Workplace filed at some point after DeSantis held a press convention on the case
The Washington County District Lawyer’s Workplace cited the state’s coverage of typically solely extraditing individuals going through high-level felony expenses, not the state’s sanctuary legislation, for its dealing with of the case. However individually, Washington County District Lawyer Kevin Barton has cited issues with getting suspects extradited to Oregon that he attributes to the state’s sanctuary legislation.
America First Authorized Basis has had some wins in courtroom. In 2022, it succeeded in getting a federal decide to halt the Biden administration and Congress’ debt aid program for farmers of coloration. This system had been an try to handle the U.S. Division of Agriculture’s documented historical past of discriminatory practices round loans for Black farmers and different teams.
The New York Instances reported that consultants imagine it is going to be troublesome for America First Authorized Basis to sue state and native officers over sanctuary legal guidelines however that the group is launching a public stress marketing campaign.
— Hillary Borrud is an investigative reporter. Attain her at 503-294 4034 or hborrud@oregonian.com.
Our journalism wants your assist. Please develop into a subscriber in the present day at OregonLive.com/subscribe
