Local officials pledge to lead in offering sanctuary

Presenter: Local officials discussed how Lane County can be a leader in offering sanctuary to its residents. At the Poverty and Homelessness Board Executive Committee Jan. 16, Lane County Commissioner Pat Farr:

[00:00:13] Commissioner Pat Farr: Lane County is currently working on an ongoing basis on how to provide safe sanctuary for people in in Lane County, both people of color and people of LGBTQIA2S+ in a number of areas.

[00:00:33] No small issue is the potential of a drying up, so to speak, of medications for gender-affirming medications and other medications for people who are currently in process with medication. There’s a chance that, well, there’s a probability that the federal government will reduce the supply of that or eliminate the supply. And we’re working on: How do we maintain stockpiles in Lane County to make sure that we’re able to provide medication to people as needed through our community health centers?

[00:01:02] The next discussion that we’re going to have is specifically: How can we at Lane County not just adhere to the state’s laws (and they are laws) but actually enhance them in a way that we in Lane County can be a leader in sanctuary status for people who are currently living here and need to be protected from potential changes in availability and status?

[00:01:23] And we have at this point we have unanimous support on the board.

[00:01:30] The first meeting that we had on Tuesday was state sanctuary status. The next two meetings will be to determine the county’s current status and then how we can enhance the way we’re able to respond as county government.

[00:01:44] Once again we are an arm of the state of Oregon. County governments are, in the West at least, and in doing that we are obligated to uphold state laws. Oregon laws specifically prohibit coordination, cooperation with ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement). There are a lot of details in the package that we received on Tuesday. So the discussion is ongoing, is going to require a lot of input, and we’re receiving a lot of input at this point in time.

[00:02:13] The next meeting on this will be on the 28th of January, and then we will have a continuation of meetings through the month of February to determine how we in Lane County can coordinate and cooperate with the cities, of course, to make certain that we as an arm of the state of Oregon are able to provide safety and the feeling of safety for people who live here in Lane County.

[00:02:37] We understand the imminence of the issue and we are placing it on a fast track as far as the conversation at the board of commissioners level is concerned.

[00:02:46] Presenter: Eugene’s new mayor, Kaarin Knudson:

[00:02:48] Kaarin Knudson (Eugene, mayor): Thank you for that update Commissioner Farr, and also thank you all for the opportunity to just share a little bit about the city of Eugene’s work over over many, many years and to give me this opportunity to reaffirm our city’s commitment to being a place where everyone feels valued and safe.

[00:03:06] This commitment is grounded in ordinances and resolutions that have been adopted by our city council, as I mentioned, over a number of years in support of both individual rights and also in opposition to hate.

[00:03:19] So to highlight two different sort of categories of protections, series of protections put in place related to immigrant communities:

[00:03:30] Resolution 5174 stated that we as a city are committed to being a welcoming, inclusive and safe community for everyone. Resolution 5073 also established a supportive statement of principles for immigrant integration. But importantly, in 2017, the Eugene City Council unanimously passed the Protection for Individuals Ordinance, which is ordinance number 20-579 or 20579, adding to Eugene Code 2.495, which established in ordinance protections for all Eugene residents, including immigrants.

[00:04:06] And this action put provisions into city code preventing the use of city resources, including money equipment or personnel, including from the Eugene Police Department to detect or apprehend individuals whose only violation of the law is that they are present in the United States in violation of federal immigration laws.

[00:04:25] This ordinance is not dependent on state law, but state law does also generally prohibit inquiry or collection of someone’s immigration status or citizenship status, country of birth, with only a few specific exceptions.

[00:04:40] Eugene Code 2.497 also prohibits city employees from collecting or maintaining individually identifiable immigration status, except for in specific circumstances. And the Eugene Police Department has had and will continue to have a prohibition on using its resources, whether personnel or other for immigration or customs, enforcement’s efforts.

[00:05:02] I spoke at our Spanish-speaking community resource fair with Chief Skinner and former Mayor Vinis a couple of months ago at North Eugene and we all spoke clearly to that detail, lots of questions about that in the community.

[00:05:18] Relative to our protections of our transgendered neighbors and communities, Eugene human rights code includes protections based on many different classifications including sexual orientation, which is defined to include gender identity in that code, and the city’s bias crime, which is EC 4.731, makes it a separate offense to commit certain crimes based on another person’s perceived gender identity, as well as other listed status.

[00:05:47] The council recently amended EC 4.731 to add a person’s unhoused status to the bias crime umbrella. I could add more detail and I’m certainly happy to answer questions if there are any or also gather more information for this group and people who are listening, but an important opportunity to reaffirm those ordinances, resolutions and the values held by the community that put them in place.

[00:06:13] Presenter: Commissioner Farr:

[00:06:14] Commissioner Pat Farr: Thank you, Mayor Knudson, and what a wonderful first step on the job to provide this coordination between the city of Eugene and the county. So I’ll turn it over to (Springfield) Mayor (Sean) VanGordon because the two large cities in Lane County is where much of every activity occurs here, but it’s not limited solely to the two cities. It goes all the way from the top of the Three Sisters, of course, to the Heceta Head Lighthouse and everything in between.

[00:06:37] Presenter: The mayor of Springfield, Sean VanGordon:

[00:06:39] Sean VanGordon (Springfield, mayor): This is a huge issue for folks right now and it’s perpetuating a lot of concern and fear and angst and anxiety and any number of feelings. And I just want to take a second to acknowledge that.

[00:06:51] Also to note that we, you know, in Springfield, we are continuing to monitor the situation on the counties going through, right? Because they’re taking testimony and anytime people talk about public testimony, it’s always sort of helpful to listen to the broader conversation.

[00:07:07] But more importantly, there’s a lot of conversation about state law here. The state law really is the thing that is driving that conversation where local and state law enforcement cannot, you know, you be used to enforce immigration rules, except if there’s a warrant involved.

[00:07:24] And I learned a lot about the state law when, you know, about the details of it when I watched the county’s work session about it. And if you want to learn more, it is worth listening to what the county did this week and they just have a good explainer about it.

[00:07:36] But I just want to make sure everybody hears from all three jurisdictions that, yes, everybody’s concerned and right now in the state of Oregon, right, we are under a state law that really is, you know, protecting law enforcement from being used to enforce immigration rules.

[00:07:53] And most importantly (and this is the I think really important to me) is that if people are victims of crimes, they need to report them to law enforcement, regardless of their immigration status. If they are witnesses to crimes, they need to report them to law enforcement regardless of the immigration status.

[00:08:12] And frankly, you know, you integrate with or interact with our other like fire and ambulance and any other public safety organization because those organizations are here to keep the entire community safe.

[00:08:27] Presenter: Pat Farr:

[00:08:28] Commissioner Pat Farr: If I may just offer a quick summary, and I think this goes for all jurisdictions, Lane County, in response to the significant public support for declaring Lane County a sanctuary for both immigrants and the transgender community: ‘The Board of Commissioners reaffirms its dedication to ensuring full compliance with the Sanctuary Promise Act and to promising a safe and inclusive environment for all residents.’

[00:08:51] Presenter: Commissioner Farr also repeated his message for the city of Eugene.

[00:08:55] Commissioner Pat Farr: You know the county is an arm of state government. Municipalities are not. And we have statutory obligations that are required by state government and federal government, but municipalities do not. So anytime funding is diverted from the county to municipalities directly, then we are even more being underfunded on requirements that are placed upon us by the state. And once again, we are an arm, the county is, we all here sitting here from the county, we’re an arm of state government.

[00:09:26] Presenter: City and county officials reaffirm their commitment to protecting local residents.