Organizations Call for Lane County Sheriff to Stop

Assisting Federal Immigration Enforcement

Community members alarmed at cooperation between local law enforcement and ICE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 1, 2019

CONTACTS:
, Innovation Law Lab, ramon@innovationlawlab.org, (971) 238-1804

Joel Iboa, Causa Oregon, joel@causaoregon.org, 541-357-7664

EUGENE, Ore.— Legal and social services providers, advocacy groups, and political leaders today submitted a letter to the Lane County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO), demanding an end to the office’s practice of assisting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The letter is in response to reports from local attorneys that sheriff’s deputies are instructed to inform ICE when people are to be released from jail. In addition to informing ICE of upcoming releases, the groups say deputies allow ICE special access to the back entrance of the Lane County jail, further facilitating arrests by ICE.

“This situation has, in a moment, undone many, many years of work at trying to build trust and a relationship between the Latinx community and public safety,” said Guadalupe Quinn, president of the board of Grupo Latino de Acción Directa de Lane County (GLAD) and long-time Eugene civil rights leader. “This puts everyone at risk and is so disappointing.”

A 32-year-old Oregon law prohibits state agencies from using state or local resources to assist federal immigration enforcement. The groups say the disentanglement or “sanctuary” statute, the oldest of its kind in the country, clearly makes such cooperation between ICE and local law enforcement unlawful. The law was referred to the ballot last November by an anti-immigrant group, but Oregonians voted by a wide margin to keep the law in place.

“Oregonians, including those residing in Lane County, overwhelmingly voted to protect Oregon’s 32-year-old sanctuary law by defeating Measure 105,” said Andrea Williams, Executive Director at Causa Oregon, chair of the campaign to defeat the attempted roll-back of the law. “Voters sent a clear message that Oregon is a place where we look out for our neighbors.

This week alone, ICE detained someone who was trying to sign up for alcohol treatment by a Court order. Also this week, the Circuit Court had to cancel a trial for a defendant whose family had previously posted bail at the Lane County Jail, only to then be immediately taken into custody by ICE. When ICE interferes with the local court’s ability to order necessary substance abuse treatment or bring cases to trial for defendants who are presumed to be innocent of any wrongdoing, any local cooperation by law enforcement places an undue strain on individuals and families and undermines public safety interests.

“What our local immigration attorneys are reporting is extremely troubling and requires immediate attention,” said David Saez, executive director of Eugene-based immigrant rights group, Centro Latino Americano. “We need to not only follow the letter of the law but we need to make sure we are attending to the spirit of the law. We need a thorough examination into how the ‘sanctuary’ law is being enforced. It is on us to push and demand accountability. It’s a matter of safety and honesty.”

Lane County’s cooperation with ICE shares similarities to the practices at NORCOR, the four-county jail in The Dalles, Oregon. NORCOR’s ICE-related policies resulted in a lawsuit brought by concerned citizens, currently pending in Wasco County. “Oregon’s disentanglement statute was enacted to put an end to practices like this one,” says Erin Pettigrew of Innovation Law Lab, one of the attorneys representing the NORCOR plaintiffs. “The drafters of the law knew that cooperation between ICE and local law enforcement has harmful effects on our community.”

The letter was signed by Causa Oregon, the Eugene Human Rights Commission, Centro Latino Americano, NAACP of Eugene/Springfield, Grupo Latino de Acción Directa of Lane County (GLAD), Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) of Eugene-Springfield, Public Defender Services of Lane County, Community Alliance of Lane County, Integration Network for Immigrants of Lane County (IN), the Democratic Party of Lane County, Sanctuary Temple Beth Israel, ACLU People Power of Eugene-Springfield, ACLU of Oregon, and the Innovation Law Lab.

“Oregon voters just reaffirmed that they don’t approve of local sheriffs acting as an arm of President Trump’s cruel deportation force,” said Mat dos Santos, legal director of the ACLU of Oregon. “Sheriff Trapp must end this flagrant violation of community trust and the law.”

Read the letter submitted to the Lane County Sheriff’s Office here.