Hood River’s Latino community demonstrates solidarity amidst growing deportation threats by gathering for the national “A Day Without Immigrants” protest on Feb. 3 outside of Mercado Guadalajara.
Hood River’s Latino community demonstrates solidarity amidst growing deportation threats by gathering for the national “A Day Without Immigrants” protest on Feb. 3 outside of Mercado Guadalajara.
THE GORGE — With a national deportation campaign now underway, there has been some activity from the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the Mid-Columbia region as of Feb. 5.
Wasco County Sheriff Lane Magill reported that ICE contacted his office once since President Trump began his second term, and according to Sheriff Bob Songer, ICE detained one individual held in Klickitat County’s Jail during the same period. Hood River Police Lieutenant Don Cheli was not aware of any federal operations in Hood River.
ICE arrested 8,276 people across the country between Jan. 23-31, but the agency has offered little information on the legal status of those immigrants or whether they have a criminal record. As for local law enforcement, there are important distinctions in how officers in Oregon and Washington can operate with ICE based on state sanctuary laws.
“We can’t aid or assist. We can’t use any public resources,” said Magill. “Any federal agency that’s doing immigration enforcement is not even allowed in our conference rooms.”
First ratified in 1987 and strengthened in 2021, Oregon’s Sanctuary Promise Act prohibits law enforcement from collecting any information about an individual’s immigration or citizenship status, sharing any nonpublic information with federal authorities or even communicating with ICE. The main exception to those rules, as Cheli explained, is when a judicial warrant or subpoena signed by a judge — not an administrative warrant signed by ICE — is involved.
“There has been maybe once or twice in my career that I’ve even heard rumors of ICE being in our community, and even then, they did not ask for any police department cooperation or any assistance in any way,” said Cheli, who has worked for the Hood River Police Department for 21 years.
“I’m elected to follow the law, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do,” said Magill. “It doesn’t matter who’s threatened me to do it, or not to do it.”
In December, a Trump-affiliated nonprofit, the America First Foundation, sent a letter to Governor Tina Kotek warning of federal prosecution over Oregon’s sanctuary status, and the new U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary, Sean Duffy, pledged to withhold transportation funding from states that fail to comply with federal immigration enforcement in late January.
To report a sanctuary violation to Oregon’s Department of Justice, call 1-844-924-7829 or visit www.sanctuarypromise.oregon.gov/.
Washington’s sanctuary law, passed in 2019 and called the Keep Washington Working Act (KWW), similarly prevents law enforcement from inquiring about immigration status and sharing any nonpublic information with federal authorities without a court order. It does enable police officers, however, to share a person’s already-known immigration status with ICE and gives local law enforcement the ability to write their own KWW-compliant policies.
“I will cooperate with ICE 100%,” said Songer.
Columbia Gorge News asked whether he was actively giving information to ICE, to which Songer replied, “That’s none of your business. If I’m working with ICE, why would I show our hand?”
Chief Mike Hepner of the Bingen-White Salmon Police Department, on the other hand, affirmed that his officers do not investigate immigration violations and encouraged residents, regardless to immigration status, to report crimes when they occur.
"It's important to note that the federal government does not have direct authority over local law enforcement," wrote Hepner in a statement.
A self-described “constitutional sheriff,” Songer further explained that he’s against birthright citizenship as guaranteed by the 14th Amendment if an immigrant enters the United States illegally. Relatedly, two federal judges have currently blocked Trump’s attempt to end birthright citizenship through executive order, alongside 22 lawsuits from Democratic state attorneys general.
Oregon and Washington also both have fusion centers, state-owned facilities designed to promote information sharing between local, state and Tribal law enforcement and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, ICE’s parent agency, on matters primarily related to terrorism and extremism. According to the nonprofit Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, however, fusion centers also assist federal immigration operations, counter to sanctuary law.
Unlike in Oregon, KWW does not task any agency with monitoring or responding to violations of sanctuary law. If you're an immigrant and would like to share your story anonymously, please email natew@gorgenews.com.
Commented
Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles.