crime

A lawsuit was filed Friday, July 21, in Wasco County Circuit Court claiming the regional jail is violating state law by holding immigration detainees.

The lawsuit, filed by the Oregon Law Center in Portland on behalf of four Wasco County residents, asks the court to stop the Northern Oregon Regional Correctional Facilities (NORCOR) from holding the detainees.

The four plaintiffs in the suit are Brian Stovall, John Olmstead, Connie Krummrich and Karen Brown.

A 1987 state law prohibits the use of state or local resources to “detect or apprehend” people whose only offense is being in the country illegally.

The lawsuit states Oregon law defines apprehend to include “restraining an individual’s liberty so that the [government] can assert the authority of legal process over that individual.”

The suit contends the jail is in violation of that state law through its contract “which requires it to incarcerate individuals solely to assist in the enforcement of federal immigration law.”

Will Carey, attorney for NORCOR, said that while state law says resources can’t be used to detect or apprehend illegal residents, “We aren’t doing any of those things, we are just housing prisoners. We also have a policy that we won’t hold anybody who is only being held because they’re a citizen from another country and don’t have proper papers to be here.

“As a matter of fact, the head of NORCOR, our jail administrator Bryan Brandenburg, went through the list the other day and found two people that he didn’t think qualified. He called up ICE and made them come down from Tacoma and pick them up.”

Carey said the lawsuit is a complaint that “an institution is violating Oregon law because it’s cooperating with the United States. So you’re in violation of Oregon law because you’re cooperating with the U.S. That’s going to be an interesting concept. I don’t think they’ve probably even faced this since the Civil War.”

Almost since the jail opened in 1999 it has housed immigration detainees. After a detention facility for detainees was built in Tacoma, the federal government stopped sending detainees to the regional jail, causing a budgeting crisis for the jail.

In 2014, the jail signed a four-year contract with the U.S. Marshals Service to hold federal detainees. It was amended in 2015 to include detainees from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE].

Brandenburg has previously said that all detainees being held at the jail have final deportation orders.

The jail’s current budget anticipates that ICE will use around 22 jail beds per day, though sometimes it is as few as five. The anticipated revenue for the current fiscal year is $1 million.

The lawsuit states the contract requires the jail to accept federal detainees who “are awaiting a hearing on their immigration status or deportation.”

Carey said he believed the lawsuit is “a pure political thing” that was a result of the presidential election. While deportations were high under former President Barack Obama – and the regional jail housed detainees for years without controversy — President Donald Trump campaigned on a hard stance against illegal immigration.

Citizens began attending regional jail meetings earlier this year, and were asked by jail board officials why they were only now focused on the fact that the jail houses detainees. One attendee said she hadn’t realized it before, but was now taking action.

The lawsuit contends the jail does not house federal detainees because of any violation of state or local law.

Rather, the jail uses “county money, personnel and equipment to incarcerate people solely because they allegedly are persons of foreign citizenship present in the United States in violation of federal immigration laws.”

The suit says the 1987 state law is intended to prevent agencies from assisting “federal officials at any stage of the immigration enforcement process.”

Carey said, “We’ve told the marshal’s office and we’ve told ICE, if they’re not charged or convicted with a crime, then we won’t hold them.”

The lawsuit states, “Whether or not these persons have criminal charges or convictions, the sole reason they are held by NORCOR is to assist ICE in the enforcement of federal immigration laws.”

In a press release distributed Monday, Jessica Campbell, co-director of the Rural Organizing Project, a statewide network of over 60 groups organizing for human dignity across Oregon, said, “NORCOR officials have been violating Oregon law by using taxpayer money to detain people for federal immigration purposes.

“This is not only a violation of the law, it’s a violation of the trust Oregonians have in their locally elected officials and their public institutions.”

In May, a spokeswoman for Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum told the Associated Press the 1987 state law did not apply to NORCOR's contract to house ICE detainees because "it doesn't appear that NORCOR resources are being used to detect or arrest people."

Mat Dos Santos, legal director for American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon, told Willamette Week in May that he believed the Attorney General’s office was wrong.

“We think it’s a clear violation of state law for a local facility to house ICE detainees.”

He said “apprehend” not only means arrest, but “detain.”

The suit contends the plaintiffs are subject to the risk of additional future taxes.The ICE contract states the jail is responsible for all medical care provided inside the facility to detainees. (The federal government is responsible for all medical care provided outside the facility.)

The contract assumes the jail’s medical expenses are covered in the $80 per diem rate for each inmate.

The lawsuit notes the jail is only paid in arrears for holding detainees, subject to the availability of funds appropriated by Congress.

It notes the contract requires the jail to apprehend escapees at its own expense, at federal direction.

Carey said it costs $6.2 million a year to run the jail, and the four member counties, Wasco, Hood River, Sherman and Gilliam, contribute $3.8 million. Wasco County pays about $2 million of that.

The regional jail helps support the cost of running the jail by renting beds to ICE, Carey said. “So it’s not like we’re taking money away from Wasco County taxpayers, we’re actually precluding them from being taxed for more money.”

Andrea Williams, the executive director of Causa Oregon, a statewide immigrant rights organization, said in a press release, “We applaud the courage of those who are challenging NORCOR’s use of local public funds and hope that NORCOR stops detaining people for federal immigration purposes.

“We must uphold the integrity of Oregon’s 30-year-old law that limits our local resources from being used to enforce questionable federal immigration policies,” said Williams, who is not involved in the lawsuit.

Carey said the Oregon Law Center sent him a letter July 12 telling him that if NORCOR did not notify the federal government it would stop accepting ICE detainees by Friday, July 21, it would file suit. Read more about Jail sued over holding immigration detainees

Three Oregon legislators are spearheading an initiative petition that would repeal the Oregon law prohibiting local and state police from enforcing federal immigration laws.

Rep. Mike Nearman, R-Independence, Rep. Sal Esquivel, R-Medford, and Rep. Greg Barreto, R-Pendleton, certified a ballot title with the Elections Division for Initiative Petition 2018-022, which is proposed for the November 6, 2018 General Election.

The trio is hoping voters will support repealing Oregon Statute 181.850 [ORS 181A.820], which states law enforcement agencies may not use agency money, equipment or personnel to detect or apprehend people who are only violating federal immigration laws by being foreign citizens in the United States.

Oregonians for Immigration Reform, an organization calling for an end to illegal immigration, is "cosigning" the initiative, said communications director Jim Ludwick.

"Every nation has a sovereign right to set its own immigration policies and we believe the state statute is in violation of federal law," Ludwick said. "People should have the chance to vote on this."

Ludwick said OFIR plans to lead a community campaign which includes providing information to residents an gathering signatures for the initiative at places like the Oregon State Fair and other public venues.

"We're going to start a vigorous process to make sure we overturn the sanctuary state of Oregon," Ludwick said.

88,184 signatures are required to certify the initiative for a ballot measure, according to the Oregon Secretary of State Elections Division.

Rep. Nearman and Rep. Barreto did not respond to requests for comment. Rep. Esquivel was out of state and could not be reached by publication time.

Andrea Williams, executive director of immigrant rights organization Causa Oregon, said Causa has been keeping an eye on the initiative ever since it was filed.

"The last thing we need is our local law enforcement resources being used for federal immigration purposes," Williams said.

She said Causa has passed 14 inclusivity resolutions across Oregon cities and counties that vow to not allow city resources to be used to enforce federal immigration law. Salem City Councilors voted unanimously to pass the resolution in February.

Williams said the initiative would undue the bipartisan effort in 1987 that brought ORS 181.850 into law, which she says was in response to accusations of police racial profiling.

When President Donald Trump released an executive order that halted federal funding to sanctuary cities and allowed law enforcement to perform the functions of immigration officers in January, local and state police officials said they would not alter the way they operate.

Salem Police, Marion County Sheriff's Office and Oregon State Police stated they would follow state law as long as it an Oregon statute.

Ludwick said, however, local and state law enforcement should follow federal law.

"People need to understand the cost of illegal aliens on the state of Oregon," Ludwick said. "Everybody has to obey the law."

The prospective petition, which was initially filed on April 25, is currently in an appeal period. Registered voters have the opportunity to submit comments and requests for the Oregon Supreme Court to review the ballot until Monday, July 31.

For questions, comments and news tips, email reporter Lauren Hernandez at lehernande@statesmanjournal.com , call 503-983-6030 or follow on Twitter @LaurenPorFavor
 

  Read more about Oregon legislators push to allow police to enforce immigration laws

Empowered by a president who has "taken the handcuffs off of law enforcement," the nation's chief immigration official revealed Tuesday that deportation targets have surged and that he's planning to deploy more agents and resources to "sanctuary cities" to arrest illegal criminals.

Thomas D. Homan, acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said in an interview that since Trump entered office, illegal border crossings have crashed by almost 70 percent, "an historic low," arrests inside the country have jumped 40 percent and that demands for illegal criminals in local jails has skyrocketed 80 percent.

"You can like President Trump, not like him, like his policies, not like his policies, but one thing no one can argue with is the effect they've had," said Homan, the former chief ICE enforcement boss and a 30-year immigration agency veteran.

He said that the change in immigration enforcement has been radical — and welcome — under Trump. "You'd think everybody would be celebrating these policies," he said during the 45-minute interview in his office.

One group he says are cheering: Border Patrol and ICE agents. "Now they have meaning to their jobs," said Homan. "What this president has done is taken the handcuffs off of law enforcement officers who are charged with enforcing immigration laws," he added.

The drop in illegal crossings has given ICE a chance to redirect resources to interior United States and immigrants locked up in jails, illegally working jobs and on the run.

A key target is the 300-plus sanctuary cities and counties that do not cooperate with ICE and ignore requests that they detail criminal illegals for ICE arrest and deportation proceedings.

Homan called sanctuaries "ludicrous," adding, "In the America I grew up in, cities didn't shield people who violated the law."

A New York native who took his first immigration job during the Reagan administration, Homan said that he plans to flood sanctuary cities with agents. He has been OK'd to hire 10,000 new agents and many will help track down illegals in those havens.

"The president recognizes that you've got to have a true interior enforcement strategy to make it uncomfortable for them," he said.

He ripped cities like Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, and San Francisco that refuse to let ICE officers into jails to seize illegal criminals. He explained that it is much safer for ICE targets, police and citizens to make the arrest in jails than on city streets.

What's more, he said that the sanctuary policies create more fear in immigrant communities by forcing ICE agents to hunt down fugitives at their homes or work. "I'm going to arrest him and anybody else with him because there is no population off the table any more. So if you really want to tap down the fear in the immigrant community, I would think the counties would want me in their jails," he said.

Homan testified before Congress recently that under Trump, no illegal immigrant is safe from deportation, though the administration is prioritizing criminals, fugitives, threats to national security and those who illegally reentered the U.S.

"I don't think that there is a magic number that we need to get to," said Homan.

"What I want to get to is a clear understanding from everybody, from the congressmen to the politicians to law enforcement to those who enter the country illegally, that ICE is open for business. We're going to enforce the laws on the books without apology, we'll continue to prioritize what we do. But it's not OK to violate the laws of this country anymore, you're going to be held accountable," he added.

Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner's "Washington Secrets" columnist, can be contacted at pbedard@washingtonexaminer.com Read more about ICE chief: 80% jump in illegal targets, readies national 'sanctuary' crackdown

Lane County commissioners voted Tuesday to bar county employees from using public funds to enforce federal immigration laws in most cases.

The five-member board unanimously approved adding new language to the county’s policy manual banning the use of money, equipment or personnel for “detecting or apprehending persons whose only violation of law is that they are persons of foreign citizenship present in the United States in violation of federal immigration laws.”

The move is designed to encourage local undocumented immigrants to work with Lane County sheriff’s deputies without fear of deportation.

The commissioners’ vote followed months of lobbying by Lane County residents worried about the effects of President Trump’s stricter enforcement of federal immigration laws. It also comes amid a national debate over so-called “sanctuary city” policies and efforts by liberal-leaning states that don’t want to use locally funded staff to enforce stricter federal immigration policies.

“We are a local government providing local services. If a citizen is afraid to come to us, that really affects our ability to protect people,” Commissioner Jay Bozievich said shortly before the board voted to add the language covering “foreign citizenship” in the Lane Manual.

County officials say the Lane Manual change reflects policies already practiced by agencies such as the Lane County Sheriff’s Office and Lane County Health and Human Services.

The language would allow county personnel to help federal immigration officials if a federal judge had ordered a person to be arrested for violating federal immigration law. However, such situations appear to be rare.

In November, shortly after Trump’s victory, Lane County, mayors of nine cities and other organizations co-signed a statement of unity vowing to protect marginalized residents such as immigrants.

But local speakers and numerous letter writers have urged local governments such as the city of Eugene and Lane County to go further and commit to refraining from helping in federal deportation arrests — even though such assistance by state or local government is already prohibited by Oregon law.

More than a dozen people spoke at Tuesday’s board meeting, each urging the commissioners to approve the language barring county resources from being used for federal deportation efforts.

No one spoke against the Lane Manual change.

“I have no problem with people who come from unimaginable situations who come to this country to make a better life for themselves and their children, whether through legal or illegal means,” said Ellen Furstner, a Marcola resident who described herself as a second-generation refugee.

Lane County Administrator Steve Mokrohisky said staff worked to ensure the policy was within state and federal law.

Oregon Revised Statutes contains identical language to the Lane Manual addition, barring law enforcement from using agency resources for deportation actions against someone wanted solely for violating federal immigration law.

“As of today, we believe this language does not put at risk our ability to access state and federal funds,” Mokrohisky said.

Follow Elon on Twitter @EGlucklich . Email elon.glucklich@registerguard.com .
  Read more about Lane County commissioners vote to ban use of public funds for federal immigration enforcement

SALEM, Ore.-Democrats in the Senate today passed a proposal that will force Oregonians to obstruct justice by restraining them from cooperating with law enforcement in dealing with criminals at public schools, public health facilities, courthouses, public shelters and other public facilities.

The Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC) June 1, 2017 Inmate Population Profile indicated there were 14,708 inmates incarcerated in the DOC’s 14 prisons.

Data obtained from the DOC indicated that on June 1st there were 981 foreign nationals (criminal aliens) incarcerated in the state’s prison system; approximately one in every fifteen prisoners incarcerated by the state was a criminal alien, 6.67 percent of the total prison population.

Some background information, all 981 criminal aliens currently incarcerated in the DOC prison system were identified by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a federal law enforcement agency that is part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. If an inmate is identified by ICE as being a criminal alien, at the federal law enforcement agency’s request, DOC officials will place an “ICE detainer” on the inmate. After the inmate completes his/her state sanction, prison officials will transfer custody of the inmate to ICE.

Using DOC Inmate Population Profiles and ICE detainer numbers, the following table reveals the total number inmates, the number of domestic and criminal alien inmates along with the percentage of them with ICE detainers incarcerated on June 1st in the state’s prisons.
 

Source: Research and Evaluation DOC Report ICE inmates list 01 June 17 and Inmate Population Profile 01 June 17.

Using DOC ICE detainer numbers, the following table reveals the number and percentage of criminal alien prisoners incarcerated on June 1st that were sent to prison from the state’s 36 counties.
 

Source: Research and Evaluation DOC Report ICE inmates list 01 June 17.

Here are the ways Oregon residents were victimized by the 981 criminal aliens.

Using DOC ICE detainer numbers, the following table reveals the number and percentage of criminal alien prisoners incarcerated on June 1st by type of crime.
 

Source: Research and Evaluation DOC Report ICE inmates list 01 June 17.

Using the DOC Inmate Population Profile and ICE detainer numbers from June 1st, the following table reveals the total number inmates by crime type, the number of domestic and criminal alien prisoners incarcerated by type of crime and the percentage of those crimes committed by criminal aliens.
 

Source: Research and Evaluation DOC Report ICE inmates list 01 June 17 and Inmate Population Profile 01 June 17.

Using DOC ICE detainer numbers, the following table reveals the self-declared countries of origin of the 981 criminal alien prisoners by number and percentage incarcerated on June 1st in the state’s prisons.
 

Source: Research and Evaluation DOC Report ICE inmates list 01 June 17.

Beyond the DOC criminal alien incarceration numbers and incarceration percentages, per county and per crime type, or even country of origin, criminal aliens pose high economic cost on Oregonians.

An individual prisoner incarcerated in the DOC prison system costs the state approximately ($94.55) per day.

The DOC’s incarceration cost for its 981 criminal alien prison population is approximately ($92,753.55) per day, ($649,274.85) per week, and ($33,855,045.75) per year.

Even taking into account fiscal year 2016 U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Justice, State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) award of $1,788,075.00, if the State of Oregon receives the same amount of SCAAP funding for fiscal year 2017, the cost to incarcerate 981 criminal aliens to the DOC will be at least ($32,066,970.75).

None of preceding cost estimates for the DOC to incarcerate the 981 criminal aliens includes the dollar amount for legal services (indigent defense), language interpreters, court costs, or victim assistance.

Bibliography

Oregon Department of Corrections Population Profile June 1, 2017:
http://www.oregon.gov/doc/RESRCH/docs/inmate_profile_201706.pdf

Oregon Department of Corrections Population Profile (unpublished MS Excel workbook) titled Incarcerated Criminal Aliens Report dated June 1, 2017.

Oregon Department of Corrections Issue Brief Quick Facts IB-53, January, 2017:
http://www.oregon.gov/doc/OC/docs/pdf/IB-53-Quick%20Facts.pdf

U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance, State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP), 2016 SCAAP award: https://www.bja.gov/funding/FY2016-SCAAP-Award-C.PDF

This report is a service to Oregon state, county and city governmental officials to help them assess the impact of foreign national crime in the state.

David Olen Cross
Cell Phone: 503.991.2089
E-mail: davidolencross@hotmail.com Read more about Oregon Department of Corrections: Criminal Alien Report June 2017

The United States having a significant foreign national population residing within the nations boundaries, be they legally or illegally present in the country, unfortunately includes those who commit crimes.

The extent and impact of foreign national crime on the U.S. citizens and residents of this country is unambiguously revealed by a simple search on the U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) inmates statistics website under the heading of inmate citizenship.

Here are the countries of origin, moreover, the number and percentage of those countries citizens recently incarcerated in the U.S. BOP prison system (The most recent BOP crime numbers available were from May 27, 2017.).

Inmate Citizenship:

- México 26,416 inmates, 14.1 percent;
- Colombia 1,721 inmates, 0.9 percent;
- Dominican Republic 1,516 inmates, 0.8 percent;
- Cuba 1,249 inmates, 0.7 percent;
- Other / unknown countries 9,589 inmates, 5.1 percent;
- United States 147,419 inmates, 78.5 percent;

Total Inmates 187,910 inmates.

To explain the meaning of these preceding criminal alien inmate numbers and percentages, I will translate them into words:

Combining May 27th BOP criminal alien inmate numbers, there were 40,491 criminal aliens in the BOP prison system. Alien inmates were 21.5 percent of the federal prison population; more than two in every ten inmates were criminal aliens.

With 26,416 Mexican nationals being incarcerated in the BOP prison system, at 65.2 percent, they were the vast majority of criminal aliens in federal prisons.

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons breaks down the federal prison population into 13 types of offenses. One of the top five offenses, the reason inmates are serving time in federal prisons is for immigration crimes. There were 14,541 inmates in the BOP prison system incarcerated for immigration crimes; they were 8.2 percent of the federal prison population.

A wakeup call to all American citizens, eventually the majority of these criminal aliens from México, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Cuba and other countries will be released from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons after completing their prison terms.

The country of Mexico, America’s neighbor to the south, is both historically and literally a land bridge of many frequently unsecured trails, roads, highways and railways used by persons trying and far too often successfully illegally entering our country.

United States citizens should, if they haven’t already, contact their members of Congress (two Senators and one Representative) and tell them to support President Donald J. Trump’s proposal to build a wall (fences and technology) along the U.S. border with Mexico to stop the threat of tens of thousands of criminal aliens, once they are released from the federal prison system and deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to their countries of origin, ability to illegally return to this nation and harm its citizens and residents.

David Olen Cross of Salem, Oregon writes on immigration issues and foreign national crime. He is a weekly guest on the Lars Larson Northwest Show. He can be reached at docfnc@yahoo.com or at http://docfnc.wordpress.com/ Read more about U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons: Criminal Alien Report May 2017

Information obtained from the Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC) indicated that on May 1, 2017 that 107 of the 969 foreign nationals (criminal aliens) in the state’s prison system were incarcerated for drug crimes, 11.04 percent of the criminal alien prison population.

Using DOC U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) immigration detainer numbers, the following table reveals the total number criminal alien inmates along with the number and percentage of those alien inmates incarcerated on May 1st in the state’s prisons for drug crimes.
 

Source: Research and Evaluation DOC Report ICE inmates list 01 May 17.

Using DOC ICE immigration detainer numbers, the following table reveals the number and percentage of criminal alien inmates incarcerated on May 1st that were sent to prison from the state’s 36 counties for drug crimes.
 

Source: Research and Evaluation DOC Report ICE inmates list 01 May 17.

Using DOC ICE immigration detainer numbers, the following table reveals the self-declared countries of origin of the 107 criminal alien inmates by number and percentage incarcerated on May 1st in the state’s prisons for drug crimes.
 

Source: Research and Evaluation DOC Report ICE inmates list 01 May 17.

Criminal aliens from seven different countries have committed drug crimes against residents in the state of Oregon.

David Olen Cross of Salem, Oregon writes on immigration issues and foreign national crime. This report is a service to Oregon state, county and city governmental officials to help them assess the impact of foreign national crime in the state. He can be reached at docfnc@yahoo.com or at http://docfnc.wordpress.com/ Read more about Oregon Department of Corrections: Foreign National Drug Crime Report May 2017