Sheriff puts community first and rejects ICE detention proposal

Salem, Ore--CAUSA was pleased to learn today that the Marion County Sheriff refused a proposal from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to use the county jail as an undocumented immigrant hold center.

According to the Salem Statesman Journal, Sheriff Russ Isham’s refusal to use the county jail for ICE holds was due to concerns he had “about how the partnership with ICE would affect the relationships his office has worked so hard to develop with minority groups in Marion County”.

Barbara Ghio, an Immigration Attorney in Marion County, said in response to the decision, “Had the sheriff approved the deal, it would have driven people in the immigrant community, perhaps even legal immigrants, further into the shadows”.

Ghio added that such cooperation “would have caused immigrants to not visit their loved ones in jail, not show up to testify in court for fear of being taken into custody by ICE and not report when they've been victimized”.

“The decision by Sheriff Isham is one that puts the public safety and needs of the Immigrant community first”, said Francisco Lopez, Executive Director of CAUSA. “It is one that fosters trust and that is a good thing for everybody."

Although Sheriff Isham has drawn criticism from some, his decision gives insight to where his priorities are—to have a working relationship with the minority and immigrant communities built on trust and cooperation. His decision should serve as an example to Sheriffs around the nation faced with the same question.

The reality is, the “enforcement only” policy of arrest, detain and deport have done little to nothing to curb undocumented immigration. In fact, the obsolete policy has only succeeded in separating families and dividing communities. And, until Congress passes fair and just Immigration Reform, the destructive pattern of dividing families and communities will continue.

We commend Sheriff Isham and his office for having the courage to do the right thing.

Resources:
Sheriff rejects foreign-born criminal holding plan Salem Statesman Journal, April 23, 2009

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The Federalization of Oregon State Government

By Francisco Lopez

It's ironic that some State Legislators are promoting the concept that state government should take on the role of the federal government. Thelma Guerrero's article published on the Salem Statesman Journal on 1/24/08 "Real ID Act's future in state still uncertain: Legislature might address the standards to gain an extension" demonstrates the tension that this dysfunctional law is creating in the halls of the Oregon State Capitol.

The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) was mandated by the 2008 "experimental" Legislative Session to provide a report to evaluate the impact of the new drivers' license requirements. The DMV staff has developed a draft outline of this report. The outline lists the customer impact of the tightened identity requirements such as the need for documents proving legal presence and difficulties obtaining legal name change documents. In the future, it is anticipated that the DMV will use electronic verification of immigration documents, and will issue "limited-term" licenses, permits and ID cards to temporary residents effective January 1, 2010.

Future legislative reports by DMV will record the impacts of state law on the number of unlicensed drivers, uninsured drivers, accidents involving injuries or fatalities to unlicensed or uninsured drivers, and multiple passenger accidents related to the transportation of laborers. The new system is expensive. The DMV s is requesting more than $10 million in the state budget to continue the implementation of their Federal duties.

Our state budget shortfall will probably reach $2 billion dollars, which has resulted in a governor's budget that would cut basic services to the elderly and the disabled. With the state unemployment rate at 9% it is outrageous that DMV is forced to ask for new state revenue for a dysfunctional program created by the Bush-Cheney administration. Hopefully President Obama will fix or eliminate all together the Real ID Act. In the meantime, state legislators should consider holding back on full state implementation of the federal act.

How we will pay for this new system? Very simple: through the Governor's proposed increase of DMV fees for titling and registering vehicles. If signed into law, according to the DMV, the proposal would raise title fees from $55.00 for a passenger vehicle to $110.00. Registration fees for passenger vehicles would increase from $27.00 a year to $81.00, mopeds from $15.00 a year to $45.00, and motorcycles from $15.00 a year to $45.00. There is also a one-time title fee that would be assessed based on the combined estimated miles per gallon of the vehicle being titled. One-time title fees would be either $50 or $100, depending on the mileage rating of the vehicle. The custom (vanity) plate fee would also increase from $25.00 to $50.00 per year.

The traditional opponents of less government intervention and red-tape, more local control, and downsizing government are doing the opposite these days by asking the State to increase their bureaucratic system by agreeing to have the state take on the role of federal agencies. If we want to fix the problem with undocumented migration we should improve our immigration system and fix the dysfunctional immigration bureaucracy to increase the number of legal immigrants to keep families together and meet the demand for jobs that employers cannot fill.

Comprehensive immigration reform will bring people out of the shadows and support a system that allows undocumented immigrants who are in good standing to pay a fine, learn English, and go to the back of the line for the opportunity to become citizens. It would allow us to work with Mexico to promote economic development and to decrease undocumented immigration to the US.

Francisco Lopez is the Director of CAUSA, Oregon's Immigrant Rights Coalition.

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Setting the record straight on Immigration

In a letter to the editor to the Statesman Journal, Kelly O’Brien, the coordinator for the Coalition for a Working Oregon, has responded to one submitted last month by Lyneil Vandermolen.

According to O’Brien, Vandermolen’s letter was ”riddled with inaccuracies and innuendo”. About Vandermollen’s position, she had this to say:

“Unfortunately, extremists are less about enacting true, meaningful immigration reform and more about confusing an already complicated issue in order to push their own agenda and ideals."

In her article, O’Brien also took apart Vandermollen’s notion that an enforcement only approach is the only way. She said, “this country can't end with just enforcement, because enforcement alone will never solve the larger problem….Only comprehensive immigration reform at the federal level will provide a meaningful and long-lasting solution to this problem."

O’Brien went on to add that Oregonians want a comprehensive approach to immigration reform and that polls reflect these feelings. She finished by saying that “We have to do what is right for our country and our economy”.

The full letter can be read by linking here.

The Coalition for a Working Oregon is “the first consolidated effort by Oregon employers to promote a thoughtful, sensible approach to immigration reform on the federal level. The CWO is comprised of 20 top Oregon employer groups representing well over 300,000 Oregon workers.”

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Oregon Immigrant Rights Advocate Featured

in the news

Today, the Salem Statesman Journal did a story about our very own Aeryca Steinbauer. Get the full story here.

Advocate: Immigrants, legal or not, help the U.S.
Aeryca Steinbauer is the youngest person to lead the statewide CAUSA group

THELMA GUERRERO-HUSTON
Statesman Journal
April 14, 2008

WOODBURN — When she's not busy defending and advancing immigrant rights at the local or state level, Aeryca Steinbauer can be found at the nation's capital, giving an earful to politicians about how immigrants, even illegal ones, make the country stronger.

At 25, Steinbauer is the youngest person to lead the Woodburn-based CAUSA, a statewide immigrant-rights advocacy group that also represents farmworkers, women, Latino youth, social-service providers, indigenous people, rural residents, and gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people.

When speaking with her, one gets the impression there isn't much middle ground when it comes to her opinion of immigrants — legal or otherwise — saying all immigrants who want to work should be welcomed with full labor rights. ...continue

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Editor Calls Out ALIPAC for Spinning Fairytales

Seems more than just a few people are having a problem with ALIPAC. Today, Salem Statesman Journal Editor, Dick Hughes is having a problem with the anti-immigrant group’s honesty. In response to an action alert the group sent out this morning self-justifying their false reporting on a story, Hughes had this to say

The truth matters, not just saying "the truth is on our side." I find it unconscionable that ALIPAC is using a phony story about a "crime" to represent crimes by illegal immigrants. Such a strategy undercuts what ALIPAC says it stands for.

ALIPAC’s self-justifying email arrived on the heels of the mea culpa they issues yesterday evening after their veiled attempt to whip up hatred for Latino Immigrants failed. You can see a copy of that email here.

Not surprising to anyone, ALIPAC seems to be becoming increasingly desperate to find anything to demonize Immigrants, Latinos and any individuals or organizations that stand up to their racism and xenophobic rhetoric. Now more than ever they are reaching at any story, notion or fallacy they can find to energize their members. It is quite sad.

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