Four people are suing a north central Oregon jail, claiming that the facility is violating state law by holding immigrants who are awaiting deportation or status hearings. The lawsuit, filed in northern Wasco County this month, asserts that taxpayers have to pay property taxes for the construction and operation of the Northern Oregon Regional Correctional Facility, located in the small city known as The Dalles.
The four claim that a law unique to the state of Oregon, which prohibits the helping of federal authorities to enforce immigration laws by local and state authorities, is being broken by the jail. The focus of the lawsuit is on the immigrants who have been overflowing to Wasco County from a detention facility belonging to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Tacoma.
In May, the relationship between the federal agency and the county gained attention when several of the detainees embarked on a hunger strike, which ended when they were given a radio and a microwave oven. In 1987, Oregon created the first ‘sanctuary state’ in the US, with Governor Kate Brown signing an executive order in February, which said the 1987 statute needs to be followed by every state agency.
The lawsuit names the state as well as the jail but Kristen Campbell, the attorney for the state, claims that both parties have obeyed Oregon law, saying that the jail accepts only inmates with criminal charges beyond that of being undocumented immigrants.