You are here

Home › Letters › Oregon's sanctuary laws are in conflict with the U.S. Constitution

Oregon's sanctuary laws are in conflict with the U.S. Constitution

Letter date: 
Friday, March 22, 2019
Letter publisher: 
Salem Statesman Journal
Letter author: 
Scott McGraw
Letter link: 
Read the original letter
Letter body: 

To our governor, and particularly our lawmakers holding supermajority power:

Our constitution and the laws enacted by the United States pursuant to it are the law of our entire country — U.S. Constitution, Article VI. Our legal representatives at both the state and federal levels have vowed to support our constitution.

Amendment 10 sets forth the ability of the states and the people to enact laws — which must not conflict with our constitution and federal laws enacted thereto. Article 9 states, as of Jan. 1, 1808, only federal lawmakers can make laws about immigration, and they have enacted such laws. The states and the people have the direct power to enact laws, so long as they do not conflict with our constitution. That is the 10th Amendment, completing our Bill of Rights.

Yet, our state and several of our cities have enacted laws granting sanctuary to illegal immigrants. And, while the people of Oregon promptly voted to overturn a recent Oregon driver license law, our governor and Legislature are working to again grant driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants and also to further interfere with federal authorities regarding illegal immigrants coming before our courts. No means no. Listen!

Oregonians For Immigration Reform

Advocating for an environmentally sustainable level of immigration

Copyright 2000-2023 Oregonians For Immigration Reform
Fair Use: This site contains copyrighted material, the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of issues related to mass immigration. We believe this constitutes a "fair use" of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information, see: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/107, https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/108, https://www.law.cornell.edu/treaties/berne/10.html, and https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/fair_use. In order to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond "fair use", you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.