Oregon 'Sanctuary State' Policy Survives As Voters Reject Fearmongering

Elise Foley
Oregon voters rejected Measure 105, which would have ended the state's decades-old policy against local law enforcement policing immigration. (Photo: Associated Press)
Oregon voters rejected Measure 105, which would have ended the state's decades-old policy against local law enforcement policing immigration. (Photo: Associated Press)

Even after years of fearmongering about so-called sanctuary jurisdictions for undocumented immigrants, Oregon voters on Tuesday rejected a measure that would have removed the state’s decades-old policies restricting local law enforcement cooperation with federal deportation efforts.

About 63 percent of voters counted as of early Wednesday opposed an anti-“sanctuary state” measure, with more than 1.6 million votes tallied.

The defeat of the Oregon measure was a bright spot of the 2018 midterm elections for immigrant rights advocates, along with Democrats taking over the U.S. House and voters rejecting anti-immigrant hardliners like Kansas gubernatorial candidate Kris Kobach (R).

Republicans deepened their control of the Senate, and President Donald Trump will still be in office, pursuing a crackdown on undocumented immigrants. But the Oregon measure’s defeat showed that voters in one state, at least, weren’t convinced by rhetoric that demonized undocumented people and policies meant to protect them.

“We are very proud that Oregon will continue to be a beacon of hope during these troubling times,” the ACLU of Oregon said in a statement that applauded voters’ rejection of the anti-sanctuary measure and an anti-abortion constitutional amendment.

“President Trump and some Oregon politicians have targeted our communities and played the politics of fear and division, but the overwhelming majority of Oregon voters did not fall for it,” the ACLU added.

Oregon’s sanctuary state policy is especially notable because of its 31-year duration, which meant it served as a model for other jurisdictions. There’s no set definition for sanctuary jurisdictions, even though they’re often referenced in campaign ads and political speeches. The term often describes policies that restrict local law enforcement’s cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In Oregon, thanks to a 1987 law, local law enforcement is barred from using resources to police immigration by finding or detaining undocumented people who are not suspected of a non-immigration-related offense. ICE can still make arrests in the state.

The law originated a decade earlier, when officers approached Latino men at a restaurant and pressed them on their immigration status. One of them, a U.S. citizen, filed a class-action lawsuit accusing the officers of acting on behalf of immigration authorities. The lawsuit was later dismissed, but the man’s lawyer successfully pushed for a law limiting the ability of police to be immigration enforcers.

Oregon is home to an estimated 130,000 undocumented immigrants.

Oregon “voters rejected a hateful attempt to strip the state of its anti-racial profiling law,” Marielena Hincapié, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center, said in a statement applauding the vote.

Also on HuffPost

April 2015

At an event hosted by Texas Patriots PAC: “Everything’s coming across the border: the illegals, the cars, the whole thing. It’s like a big mess. Blah. It’s like vomit.”
At an event hosted by Texas Patriots PAC: “Everything’s coming across the border: the illegals, the cars, the whole thing. It’s like a big mess. Blah. It’s like vomit.”

June 2015

At a speech announcing his campaign: "When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."

August 2015

On NBC's "Meet the Press": “We’re going to keep the families together, we have to keep the families together, but they have to go." 
On NBC's "Meet the Press": “We’re going to keep the families together, we have to keep the families together, but they have to go." 

September 2015

On CBS's "60 Minutes": “We’re rounding ‘em up in a very humane way, in a very nice way. And they’re going to be happy because they want to be legalized. And, by the way, I know it doesn’t sound nice. But not everything is nice.”
On CBS's "60 Minutes": “We’re rounding ‘em up in a very humane way, in a very nice way. And they’re going to be happy because they want to be legalized. And, by the way, I know it doesn’t sound nice. But not everything is nice.”

November 2015

On MSNBC's "Morning Joe": “You are going to have a deportation force, and you are going to do it humanely." 
On MSNBC's "Morning Joe": “You are going to have a deportation force, and you are going to do it humanely." 

February 2016

At a GOP primary debate: “We have at least 11 million people in this country that came in illegally. They will go out. They will come back ― some will come back, the best, through a process.”
At a GOP primary debate: “We have at least 11 million people in this country that came in illegally. They will go out. They will come back ― some will come back, the best, through a process.”

March 2016

At a press conference when asked if he would consider allowing undocumented immigrants to stay: "We either have a country or we don’t. We either have a country or we don’t. We have borders or we don’t have borders. And at this moment, the answer is absolutely not.”
At a press conference when asked if he would consider allowing undocumented immigrants to stay: "We either have a country or we don’t. We either have a country or we don’t. We have borders or we don’t have borders. And at this moment, the answer is absolutely not.”

April 2016

At an event hosted by NBC's "Today Show": “They’re going to go, and we’re going to create a path where we can get them into this country legally, OK? But it has to be done legally. ... They’re going to go, and then come back and come back legally.”
At an event hosted by NBC's "Today Show": “They’re going to go, and we’re going to create a path where we can get them into this country legally, OK? But it has to be done legally. ... They’re going to go, and then come back and come back legally.”

July 2016

At the Republican National Convention: "Tonight, I want every American whose demands for immigration security have been denied ― and every politician who has denied them ― to listen very closely to the words I am about to say. On January 21st of 2017, the day after I take the oath of office, Americans will finally wake up in a country where the laws of the United States are enforced."

September 2016

At a rally: “Anyone who has entered the United States illegally is subject to deportation. That is what it means to have laws and to have a country. Otherwise we don’t have a country.”
At a rally: “Anyone who has entered the United States illegally is subject to deportation. That is what it means to have laws and to have a country. Otherwise we don’t have a country.”

September 2016

On "The Dr. Oz Show": “Well, under my plan the undocumented or, as you would say, illegal immigrant wouldn’t be in the country. They only come in the country legally.”
On "The Dr. Oz Show": “Well, under my plan the undocumented or, as you would say, illegal immigrant wouldn’t be in the country. They only come in the country legally.”

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.