Oregon Legislature

OFIR meeting - this Saturday!

Alert date: 
January 22, 2016
Alert body: 

Never before has the issue of immigration – both legal and illegal – been such an important topic in the Presidential election. And, never before has our country been in such jeopardy because of our lax immigration policies.

Join OFIR this Saturday - bring your ideas and we will have an open discussion about what we can and should be doing to take advantage of the momentum in the immigration debate.

We'll also bring you up to date on the status of OFIR's two citizen's initiatives that have been winding their way through the ballot title challenge process all the way to the Supreme Court.

And, for all of you that worked so hard to defeat driver cards for illegal aliens, and are following the lawsuit filed in Federal Court to overturn our big 66% win – we will have the latest news to report to you.

And, if that's not enough – it's time to elect NEW Executive Board officers!

2016 promises to be a watershed year and hopefully a turning point for U.S. and Oregon immigration policies. But, voters must step up.

If you have questions please call OFIR at (503) 435-0141 or send an email to ofir@oregonir.org.

Driving directions to Best Western Mill Creek Inn:
From I-5, take exit 253, which is the intersection of I-5 and State roads 22 and Business 99E. Go West on 22 (Mission St.) a short distance to Hawthorne Ave. (Costco will be on your right.) Turn R on Hawthorne Ave. to the first left, which is Ryan Drive. Turn left on Ryan Drive, by Denny’s Restaurant, and proceed to Mill Creek Inn just beyond.

From downtown Salem: Go east on Mission St. (State Rd. 22). Follow 22 just past the Airport and turn left on Hawthorne Ave. Then take the first left (almost an immediate left) into Ryan Drive; you will see the Inn directly ahead.

Illegal immigrants sue Oregon over ballot measure denying licenses

A group of illegal immigrants is suing the state of Oregon to overturn a voter-approved initiative that denied them driver’s licenses.

The lawsuit, brought by five illegal immigrants, comes after Oregonians passed Measure 88 last year with a strong two-thirds majority. Thirty-five of Oregon’s 36 counties voted against licenses for undocumented residents, as did every congressional district in the state, most of which are represented by Democrats.

But the lawsuit alleges Measure 88 is unconstitutional because it "arbitrarily" denies driving privileges based on membership in a "disfavored minority group." It alleges Oregon voters were motivated by "animus toward persons from Mexico and Central America."

Gustavo Recarde, who has worked construction and odd jobs in Portland and several states since sneaking into the United States in 1988, said a driver's license would help him feel more comfortable here and open doors.

"If an illegal [can] get a driver's license, it would be better because there's more opportunities to find a job as a driver," said Recarde, who is not part of the lawsuit. He said he believes race played a role in the vote.

But Cynthia Kendoll, president of Oregonians for Immigration Reform, said it's not the responsibility of Oregonians to make illegal immigrants comfortable or able to drive to jobs they don't legally have.

"They came here by choice, they weren't brought here against their will, and with those choices come hardships," she said.

Measure 88 was a public vote and a reaction to a law passed by the Oregon Legislature in 2013 and signed by then-Gov. John Kitzhaber, a Democrat, that would have given "driver's cards" to those who cannot prove they are in the U.S. legally.

The campaign to deny licenses won big despite being outspent 10-to-one.

"People were not swayed by their arguments that they deserve to have a driver's card so they could more easily get to their jobs," Kendoll said. "They're not supposed to be working here."

Kendoll said Oregonians were motivated by national security and drug-smuggling by Mexican cartels, not race. Those without papers have not gone through immigration checks, she said, and licenses make it easier to transport narcotics up and down the West Coast.

Norman Williams, associate dean for academic affairs at the Willamette University College of Law in Salem, said the plaintiffs’ best argument is under the U.S. Constitution's Equal Protection Clause – and to claim Oregon has no rational basis for depriving undocumented Latin Americans of the ability to drive on Oregon's roads.

"The U.S. Supreme Court has been clear that neither legislators nor voters may target a minority group because of their race or ethnicity," he said.

The plaintiffs -- five illegal immigrants identified only by their initials -- don't have to prove every Oregon voter was racially motivated, he said.

"They do have to establish there were enough voters who voted 'no' who were prompted to do so because of racial concerns, that could have tipped the balance," he said.

Still, Williams said they face an uphill battle.

"Federal judges are very hesitant to strike down state statutes on constitutional grounds," he said.


  Read more about Illegal immigrants sue Oregon over ballot measure denying licenses

Just two weeks left to take advantage of your Oregon year end tax credit

Alert date: 
December 16, 2015
Alert body: 

December is half over and we are now in the last two weeks where you can take advantage of Oregon state's political tax credit for donations to the OFIR Political Action Committee.

We encourage you to send a contribution to OFIR PAC before year's end. Please don't forget - write your check today or go to the OFIR website and contribute to the OFIR PAC. If you don't use your political tax credit before December 31 - the state will use the money for its own purposes. You have a choice and we hope you will choose the OFIR PAC.

If you are unfamiliar with the Oregon Political Tax credit, let me explain. Oregon residents can make a contribution to one Oregon Political Action Committee per year. Through Oregon's political tax credit, married couples filing joint Oregon Income Tax Returns receive a dollar for dollar credit of up to $100 - (it's $50 for singles and married couples filing separately) - for contributions to a Political Action Committee like OFIR PAC. This is your opportunity to divert a portion of your tax obligation to OFIR PAC and not to the State's coffers.

This is not a tax deduction but a credit. If you owe money on a joint tax return, you would owe $100 less as a married couple filing jointly. Of course, you may contribute in excess of the deductible amount, and we encourage you to do so, but you may deduct only the allowable limit.

Please write your check to OFIR PAC, or visit the OFIR website and donate online at http://www.oregonir.org/donate-ofir. If you click the DONATE button on this email and fill out the form, your contribution will automatically be credited to the OFIR PAC.

Checks can be mailed to OFIR PAC, PO Box 7354, Salem OR 97303.

Checks must be made to OFIR PAC - checks made out simply to OFIR are not eligible for the state income tax credit and, under IRS rules, are not tax-deductible, but we would still welcome your contribution to OFIR!

All OFIR officers and Board members are volunteers serving without pay and we have no paid employees other than a part-time bookkeeper. As one of the most active immigration organizations in the country, we must have funds for necessary expenses such as email and website services, printing and postage, annual fees to Oregon SOS and DOJ, meeting room expenses, reimbursement for gasoline and other miscellaneous expenses incurred for travel within the state.
 
Mounting initiatives involves large expenditures for printing, postage, websites, fees to lawyers and accountants, and more, yet we have much to gain from successful initiatives. Our winning Protect Oregon Driver Licenses campaign has been a template for other successful ventures across the country. OFIR has attracted the attention and interest of many state activist groups as well as national immigration organizations.
 
We are currently facing extremely dangerous threats related to immigration here in Oregon and across the country. A healthy, robust budget is a basic requirement for continued efforts to establish sensible immigration policies that serve the public interest and well being.

As you may remember, a matching grant offer is now in effect; whatever you give will be matched dollar for dollar, by a generous donor, up to $15,000.

I can truly say OFIR couldn't have accomplished what we have without the help, support and cooperation of each and every one of you. I wish I could personally thank each of you.

If you have not yet contributed to OFIR and the work we are doing - please consider doing so before the end of the year so that you can take advantage of the Oregon Tax Credit. We need all hands on deck at this time. Please, give generously but only what you can afford!

Remember to make your check out to OFIR PAC!  Thank you!

United Way helps fill financial needs for Latino school health program

Editor’s note: This is one in a series of stories about United Way-funded agencies and the people they serve. United Way of Lane County is in the midst of its annual fall fundraising campaign.

University of Oregon freshman Karla Mercado, 18, leaned back in a couch at North Eugene High School.

“Financially, it has always been a struggle,” she said. “Because of this program, I had one less worry growing up.”

Mercado is speaking about the Soy Sano/I Am Healthy program, a service at the health centers at North Eugene and Churchill high schools. The Eugene School District program has provided everything from medical checkups and immunizations to dental and vision help, mostly free of charge to Mercado, who grew up in Eugene and attended North Eugene .

Motivated in part by her experience at the clinic, Mercado now is taking classes at the University of Oregon to pursue a career in education. And she’s paying for her education in part by working at St. Vincent de Paul Society of Lane County, the nonprofit human services organization.

Soy Sano targets a special population in Lane County: Latino youth who lack U.S. citizenship or permanent residency status — and therefore cannot get government-funded health insurance. It also serves other young people who do not have or do not qualify for public health insurance.

Mercado knows what it’s like to lack health insurance. She previously was an illegal immigrant; her status is now legal under a federal temporary permit program, and she is officially allowed to work.

The Soy Sano/I Am Healthy program began in 2010, paid for by a two-year pilot grant from the Oregon Legislature. With the backing of several local groups, the agency managed to keep its doors open even after the original grant funding ended in 2012.

Help is on the way

The funding is part of a broader, ongoing push by lawmakers to provide more help to illegal immigrants, especially youth who were brought into the United States illegally by their also-illegal parents.

In 2013, the Legislature approved a bill allowing some young illegal immigrants to pay in-state college tuition rates — as opposed to the much-higher out-of-state rates — at Oregon’s public universities.

In 2014, lawmakers approved giving Oregon drivers’ licenses to illegal immigrants, although voters statewide overwhelmingly overturned that change in November 2014. In this year’s legislative session, lawmakers opened some state-funded college scholarships to illegal immigrants.

In its first year of operation, Soy Sano/I Am Healthy helped provide comprehensive health services to 1,250 low-income children in Lane County who were born outside the United States, are in the country illegally and do not qualify for public health insurance, according to Eugene School-Based Health Center data.

The Oregon Center for Public Policy estimates there are 17,600 illegal immigrant children statewide.

Soy Sano has found that during the past couple of years, because of the expansion of the publicly funded Oregon Health Plan under the federal Affordable Care Act, fewer legal residents need the program’s help. But many hundreds of illegal immigrant children continue to lack insurance.

The program served 710 young clients in the 12 months ending in June.

Covering the children

The Affordable Care Act has not had much effect on health services for illegal immigrants because, according to the Oregon Center for Public Policy, federally funded insurance programs such as the Oregon Health Plan do not cover illegal immigrants, except in medical emergencies.

That leaves the families of illegal immigrants with the option of buying private health insurance, which is not subsidized and often expensive. Oregon is unlike Washington state, New York and Illinois, all of which provide government-­funded health insurance to illegal immigrant children within their states.

With the help of United Way of Lane County, other funding sources and community-donated resources, Soy Sano has reached its fifth year of operation, surviving even in a financially unstable climate.

“For many of these students, it’s very difficult,” said Beto Montes, the program’s bicultural outreach worker. “You come in from another country not knowing the language, the culture or the school system.”

Montes, 34 and bilingual, initially came into the United States from Mexico legally in 1990, when he was 9. He began attending the Eugene School District in fourth grade, and he received citizenship six years later because of his residency.

Montes attended the UO. He is pursuing a master’s degree in counseling at Northwest Christian University in Eugene.

Montes said his priority is providing a bridge between Latino parents and children and the school district. Two students Montes work with, 18-year-olds Luis and Romero, are prime examples.

The Register-Guard is withholding their last names to protect their privacy. They lack legal immigration status. Both came to the United States with their parents from Mexico as illegal immigrants.

“I haven’t been able to find any other health sources,” said Luis in Spanish, his words translated into English by Montes. Luis, who has younger siblings in Eugene schools, said Soy Sano has been a big help in his transition to living Eugene.

Romero agreed, noting he’s been able to use the program for basic health checkups.

Under the radar

UO student Mercado said she’s been inspired by the program.

“Even if I go somewhere else, I want to be a health activist,” she said.

Mercado originally was an illegal immigrant. But she received a renewable 2-year work visa through the federal Deferred Action Through Childhood Arrivals program, which is open to illegal immigrants who arrived in the United States before turning 16, who are 30 or younger and have lived within the country for the past five years, and who are attending school or serving in the military.

The health-care challenges facing illegal-immigrant children often go unnoticed in the broader community, said Maxine Proskurowski, the school district’s health service program manager.

“The community doesn’t see a need because these kids don’t show up at (health care providers),” said Proskurowski, noting that many illegal immigrant families don’t go to local health providers because they lack the money or insurance to cover the care.

When the Soy Sano program initially started, it received $40,920 from the Legislature in each of its first two years. That helped pay for nurse time; two part-time bilingual, bicultural outreach workers; and a portion of the coordinator’s salary.

The program was coordinated through the Community Health Centers of Lane County, the Eugene School District’s School-Based Health Centers, and Glenwood-based Planned Parenthood of Southwest Oregon.

Opening the doors

After grant funds ran out, United Way, the Eugene Education Fund, the Springfield-based PacificSource Foundation and several community outreach services stepped in to make up the difference.

Oregon Health Authority, the state’s health care department, also increased funding to the health centers. And the state office of Mental Health and Addictions awarded a grant to Lane County Behavioral Health to help cover the districts’ uninsured students.

Since 2013, United Way has provided $12,500 a year to the Eugene School District’s school-based health centers, and it promised an additional $10,000 directly to the Soy Sano program through January 2017.

“United Way has really opened the doors for us to get outside funding,” Proskurowski said. The strict application requirements and competitive process that United Way uses to choose grant recipients often encourages other grant and donor services to then financially support or donate resources to Soy Sano.

United Way “have been champions for us,” she said.

Adding dental care

Soy Sano’s clients now receive dental services through the Assistance League’s Children Dental Center at Churchill High as well as the Lane Community College Dental Hygiene Program.

“It’s a collaborative effort,” said Sharon Hagen, a dental hygiene instructor for LCC. The college receives $7,000 yearly from United Way to help cover dental checkups, mainly for illegal immigrants, and the college donates the rest of its dental services time.

Hagen said in the last school year, the program recorded 87 dental cleanings for Eugene School District students with Latino surnames. “The children in greatest need are the Hispanic children,” Hagen said.

Funding always has been touch and go.

In 2012, the Eugene district’s health centers fell behind in eligibility for state funding due in part to a lack of compliance with several new state health care mandates for record-keeping and reporting. The centers ultimately lost both state funding and funding from the school district, which had covered 80 percent of the centers’ operating costs.

Two of the centers closed, but local money has provided enough to keep the two remaining centers open. Proskurowski said the continuance of special programs such as Soy Sano hinges on school-based centers remaining open.

“The reality is, if we don’t get funding by June, the days are numbered for these (centers),” Proskurowski said.
  Read more about United Way helps fill financial needs for Latino school health program

Lawsuit aims to reinstate driver cards law dumped by voters

PORTLAND — An Oregon nonprofit filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking to reinstate a state law that would have allowed people to get driver's cards if they can't prove they are in the U.S. legally.

The law was approved by the Legislature in 2013 then overturned by voters the following year in a referendum.

In its lawsuit, the Oregon Law Center says it's illegal for Oregon to enforce Measure 88 ...

The group says the measure took driving privileges away from immigrants who lack legal status ...

The lawsuit also says the measure was driven by animosity and the desire to punish or to avoid rewarding a politically unpopular minority...

As a result, it is discriminatory and violates the U.S Constitution, the suit says.

The lawsuit does not question the general validity of Oregon's citizen initiative process.

Defendants targeted in the lawsuit include Gov. Kate Brown, the director the state Department of Transportation, several Transportation Commission members, and the administrator of the Oregon DMV.

State Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum's spokeswoman Kristina Edmunson said the Oregon Department of Justice will represent the defendants. Edmunson declined to comment on the pending litigation.

About 120,000 immigrants in Oregon lack legal status, according to the Pew Research Center...

The complaint was filed in the name of five anonymous immigrants who would have qualified for the driver's cards...

The suit seeks to be certified as a class action that includes all residents who have lived in the state for more than one year and are denied driving privileges solely because they are unable to prove legal presence.

The state estimated that, were it not for the passage of Measure 88, it would have issued about 84,000 driver's cards in the first year...

... in 2008, to make licenses compliant with the federal REAL ID Act, legislators enacted a law that required Oregonians to show proof of legal presence in the U.S. to obtain a license.

The state reversed course in 2013, joining seven other states in granting driving privileges to immigrants lacking legal status....

Oregon voters, by a margin of 66 percent to 34 percent cancelled that law before it went into effect.

Proponents of Measure 88 — mostly represented by the group Oregonians for Immigration Reform — said granting the driver cards would lead to more immigrants without legal status moving to Oregon, taking Oregonians' jobs and pushing up crime rates.

Andrea Miller, director of the Oregon immigrant-rights group Causa which pushed for the driver card law, said Measure 88's invalidation of the law has led to a crisis in the Latino community...
 


  Read more about Lawsuit aims to reinstate driver cards law dumped by voters

Oregon driver cards: Immigrants sue to reverse Measure 88 defeat

SALEM — A group of Mexican immigrants is suing to reverse a decision by Oregon voters on a 2014 ballot measure that prevents undocumented immigrants from getting Oregon driver cards.

In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Eugene, the plaintiffs said the outcome of Measure 88 is unconstitutional because it "arbitrarily" denies driving privileges "to Plaintiffs and others based on their membership in a disfavored minority group."

The plaintiffs also say the referendum was "motivated in substantial part by animus toward persons from Mexico and Central America,"...

The lawsuit comes nearly a year after Oregon voters resoundingly defeated Measure 88,...

"It was an overwhelming rejection of giving drivers' licenses to illegal aliens," said Jim Ludwick, communications director for Oregonians for Immigration Reform. "but somehow that doesn't apply to people who are here illegally and think the law doesn't apply to them." 

The measure was a reaction to Senate Bill 833, which passed in the 2013 legislative session with support from Democrats and a few moderate and rural Republicans. Then-Gov. John Kitzhaber signed the bill at a May Day rally on the Capitol steps before a raucous crowd of 2,000 people.

But the law never took effect as opponents quickly organized a campaign to refer it to the ballot.

Since 2008, Oregon has required applicants for a driver's license or permit to provide proof of citizenship...

"It's reached a crisis point for families because they don't have a solution,"...

The five Mexican immigrants, identified only by their initials in court documents, are joined by two Latino nonprofits, Familias En Acción and Los Niños Cuentan, as plaintiffs in the case....

Kristina Edmunson, a spokeswoman for Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, said the state is reviewing the case but declined to comment further.

— Ian K. Kullgren


  Read more about Oregon driver cards: Immigrants sue to reverse Measure 88 defeat

OFIR's Pizza and Politics event packs the house

Three special guest speakers and yummy pizza drew a packed house for OFIR's Pizza and Politics meeting Saturday, October 10th.

Oregon Republican Party Chairman Bill Currier, Representative Mike Nearman (an OFIR Board member) and Representative Greg Baretto spoke on a number of immigration related topics.  Visit the OFIR photo gallery.

  Read more about OFIR's Pizza and Politics event packs the house

It's time for PIZZA and POLITICS - OFIR meeting, Saturday, Oct. 10 at 2:00pm

Alert date: 
September 29, 2015
Alert body: 

Please join us Saturday, October 10 at 2:00pm at the Best Western Mill Creek Inn in Salem, OR and get caught up with what's happening locally and across the country in immigration politics all while enjoying some delicious pizza.

Donald Trump, like him or not, has blown the lid off the immigration conversation and in so doing has forced candidates to address the immigration issue head on....finally!

Because of Trump's campaign trail comments and his surge in the polls because of those comments, OFIR and immigration organizations and activists across the country are in a phenomenal position to make real headway in stemming the flow of illegal aliens into our country.

At the meeting, special guest Oregon Republican Chairman Bill Currier will be there to explain how the ORP plans to actively face down the immigration issues we struggle with here in Oregon.

Representative Mike Nearman and Representative Greg Baretto will be joining us to explain what's happening in the Oregon Legislature.

OFIR has been busy working to advance 2 initiatives. We will be talking about our progress on both of them and how you can help.

OFIR and our fantastic members and friends must be ready with renewed energy and resources to take advantage of the opportunities before us and to tackle the important challenges we will be facing in this coming election year.

Please consider bringing along a contribution to OFIR and take advantage of our $15,000 matching grant?


 

Dems defy Oregon voters on funding illegal immigrants

by Richard F. LaMountain

What will it take for the Legislature’s Democratic majority to heed Oregonians’ will?

Last year, via Ballot Measure 88, Oregon voters rejected the illegal-immigrant driver cards the Legislature approved in 2013.  The magnitude of that rejection — the margin was almost two-to-one — made clear: the vote transcended the issue of driver cards to constitute a broad mandate against state-government benefits for illegal immigrants.

In the 2015 session, however, the Democratic majority legislated as though Measure 88’s outcome had been the opposite — passing laws, indeed, that give many illegal immigrants a better shot at taxpayer-funded educational aid than most American citizens.

Senate Bill 932, which Gov. Kate Brown signed Aug. 12, credentials certain illegal immigrants — those who entered the United States as minors and graduated from Oregon high schools — to compete against U.S. citizens for need-based Oregon Opportunity Grants to the state’s colleges.  And to aid them in doing so, House Bill 2407, which Brown signed in early July, gives them race-based preferences over American students seeking the same.

How?  HB 2407’s text authorizes the state Office of Student Access and Completion to “prioritize awarding Oregon Opportunity Grants to qualified students . . . whose circumstances would enhance the promotion of equity guidelines published by the Higher Education Coordinating Commission.”  Those guidelines, wrote Sen. Doug Whitsett, R-Klamath Falls, in Eugene’s Register-Guard newspaper, are based upon an “equity lens” whose purpose is to maximize “funding for students from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups.”

And foremost among those “underrepresented” groups?  Illegal-immigrant youths, who are overwhelmingly Hispanic — a fact which will, thanks to HB 2407, give them preference for Oregon Opportunity Grants over white and, in many cases, Asian-American applicants.

What possessed the Legislature’s Democratic majority to pass laws that so blatantly contradict Oregonians’ clear mandate against benefits for illegal immigrants?

Answer: A radical, dogmatic belief that illegal immigrants should enjoy the rights and privileges of American citizens — a belief outlined in a June letter to Salem’s Statesman Journal newspaper signed by all 35 House Democrats.  “Keeping our state a great place to live — a place where all working families have a chance to get ahead and where everyone is treated equally — will require us to reject the poisonous idea that some families matter more than others,” the letter proclaimed.  “All Oregonians deserve to be treated with respect and humanity, regardless of their . . . citizenship status.”

And for the Legislature’s majority party, evidently, such “respect and humanity” require favoring illegal-immigrant students over American youths for taxpayer-funded educational grants.

What the Democrats miss: Whatever the circumstances of their arrival here, illegal immigrants are not, as the House majority caucus asserts, “Oregonians.”  They are, rather, foreign nationals here in violation of U.S. immigration law — law that was instituted by the American people via the representatives they elected to Congress.  And when Oregon’s Democratic Legislature grants benefits to those illegal immigrants, it undermines the interests of the Americans to whom it owes its foremost responsibility — the Americans, indeed, who via Ballot Measure 88 signaled their overwhelming opposition to such benefits.

In 2016, voters should elect a new majority party to the state Legislature — one which will respect both the electoral mandates and the interests of Oregon’s U.S. citizens.

Richard F. LaMountain is a former vice president of Oregonians for Immigration Reform and served as a chief petitioner of Ballot Measure 88, the 2014 referendum via which Oregon voters rejected illegal-immigrant driver cards. Read more about Dems defy Oregon voters on funding illegal immigrants

A $15,000 matching grant spurs donor contributions - don't miss your opportunity to double your contribution!

Alert date: 
October 13, 2015
Alert body: 

Contributions are rolling in - don't miss your opportunity to DOUBLE your contribution - up to $15,000 total!

A matching grant will help OFIR fight to STOP illegal immigration here in Oregon and across the country.

Our generous donor will match your contributions to OFIR of any size up to $15,000 total!  Imagine that - if you contribute $20 it magically becomes $40 or contribute $100 and it magically becomes a $200 contribution! 

OFIR fought very hard to defeat Ballot Measure 88 and our resources are running low.  Your contribution now will help OFIR stay in the game during the critical, upcoming election cycle.

Please consider a generous contribution today and double your money.  This wonderful opportunity just doesn't happen every day!

OFIR appreciates each and every one of our members.  We understand that some of you may not be able to contribute financially.  There are lots of things you can do to help http://www.oregonir.org/how-you-can-help-ofir

But, we hope that those of you that can, will dig deep and give generously.  We need your help now - and your contribution to OFIR will be doubled - up to $15,000.  It's a WIN - WIN!

You can also go online http://www.oregonir.org/donate-ofir to contribute or mail your contribution to:

OFIR

PO Box 7354

Salem, OR 97303

Thank you!

Don't miss out on this GREAT OPPORTUNITY to double your contribution to OFIR!

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