HOOD RIVER — On Tuesday, March 31, Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden stopped by Hood River Valley High School (HRVHS) for a pair of town halls, answering questions from students and community members on immigration enforcement, the democratic process, LGBTQ+ rights and the Trump administration.
The gatherings marked the Senator’s 1,158th and 1,159th open-to-all town halls since he assumed his seat in 1996 — a part of his ongoing pledge to visit constituents in each of Oregon’s 36 counties annually.
Freed from their final period of the school day, HRVHS students piled into the Bowe Theater at 2:15 p.m., where senior Rowan McKenna, leader and founder of the Gorge Youth Movement, introduced the congressman to her peers.
Hood River Valley High School senior Rowan McKenna and Sen. Ron Wyden on stage at a town hall for students on March 31. Sean Avery photo
McKenna served as an intern at Wyden’s Portland office from September to December 2025, invited by the senator after asking a question about youth involvement in politics at a town hall last year. “I have witnessed firsthand how much Sen. Wyden values youth voices, perspectives, and questions and how he truly listens,” she said. “Your voice holds so much more power than you know, and this is your chance to use it.”
“Today didn’t just happen by osmosis or fall out of the sky,” Wyden added. “Rowan said a year ago that it’s important to get more youth voices into government. I’m here because of her.”
While students raised questions across a wide range of topics, a handful of issues came up repeatedly: immigration enforcement, LGBTQ+ rights, the Trump administration, and youth empowerment.
Wyden stressed that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents should be subject to the same transparency and accountability standards as other law enforcement officers, and that their current practices under the Trump administration — especially regarding anonymity and data collection — constitute an abuse of power.
“I’ve been for making sure that we have restrictions on these roving gangs, and I’ve concentrated on privacy issues,” he said, slamming companies that sell and provide users’ data to aid ICE raids. “Once you have the government having location data on you, it’s going to involve a lot of your rights being taken away.”
Several students inquired about what the senator is doing to protect LGBTQ+ rights, particularly under an administration that is actively working to restrict access to trans youth healthcare nationwide.
Regarded as the first U.S. senator to support same-sex marriage publicly, Wyden has consistently advocated for LGBT+ rights and protections against discrimination. On trans youth healthcare, he emphasized dignity and rejecting cruelty — keeping decisions as close as possible to supportive local communities.
“Everybody deserves policies that aren’t based on cruelty, and so many of these policies are,” Wyden said, referring to a recent Senate vote where he and other Democrats blocked a Republican-backed attempt to prohibit trans athletes from competing in women’s sports.
Citing shared feelings of uncertainty among youth circles, particularly concerning the future of the democratic process, students also questioned what the senator foresees come election season.
In an interview with Reuters in January, Trump boasted about his accomplishments and said, “When you think of it, we shouldn’t even have an election,” referring to the midterms later this year.
“Donald Trump is clearly doing his best to take away and hijack the American election,” Wyden said. “No American president has ever tried to say something like that and get away with it.”
As the nation’s first senator elected via vote-by-mail, Wyden affirmed he is part of an effort to help election districts across the country prepare to block Trump’s efforts and highlighted defending Oregon’s all-mail elections as his top democratic priority. “Don’t let anybody tell you that Oregon should give up vote-by-mail,” he said.
A running theme throughout the Q&A — youth involvement in politics despite lack of voting ability — provided a launchpad for Wyden’s closing remarks, which touched on March 28’s record-breaking “No Kings” demonstrations and what it means to make a difference.
“There is no question that the millions that participated on Saturday sent a really powerful message,” he said. “I’m going to tell the members of the Oregon congressional delegation that I got the chance to meet with hundreds of young people who have me feeling that we’ve got a very good future ahead of us ... you’ve shown me that you understand what it takes to fight for the future in a way that helps everybody.”
Later that afternoon, introduced by Hood River Mayor Paul Blackburn, the senator returned to the stage before community members, many of whom posed similar questions.
Commented