Oregon Vows to Defy Federal Immigration Enforcement

The Oregon State Capitol building in Salem, circa 1960. Harvey Meston/Archive Photos/Getty Images

Oregon is preparing to resist President Donald Trump’s mass deportations of illegal immigrants that began last week.

In a video posted on Jan. 26, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek vowed to uphold state law prohibiting government officials and police from helping federal authorities enforce immigration laws.

“Our immigrant communities are Oregon communities,” she said on X, adding that she believes immigrants are integral to the culture and success of Oregon.

“I will uphold Oregon’s sanctuary promise laws that were passed with almost unanimous bipartisan support in the 1980s.”

The Oregon Department of Justice (ODOJ) is conducting outreach to educate people on how to legally resist federal immigration actions.

Oregon’s Department of Administrative Services (DAS) is instructing the state’s more than 11,000 employees on how to comply with its sanctuary laws and avoid “participating in federal immigration enforcement.”

The DAS emailed Oregon employees on Jan 20 to inform them that they had 30 days to complete the “2025 Oregon’s Immigration Law Basics for State Employees” training. The training was designed to help them recognize behavior that would violate sanctuary laws should they be approached by ICE and know how to respond.

One Oregon legislator said the training is illegal.

“The training of public employees at the request of the governor is completely inappropriate and in direct violation of federal law,” Rep. Ed Diehl, a Republican, told The Epoch Times. “Sanctuary jurisdictions are strictly prohibited from requiring their employees to violate federal immigration law.”

The First Sanctuary State

Oregon became the first-in-the-nation sanctuary state in 1987. Its laws bar police from taking into custody people who aren’t U.S. citizens if their only offense is being in the United States illegally.

The state prohibits public agencies from collaborating with the federal government to enforce immigration laws.

The state has tightened the laws that limit or prevent communication with federal immigration officials since Trump’s first term and expanded services and protections for illegal immigrants.

In 2021, the state Legislature approved the Sanctuary Promise Act, which defines what law enforcement activity is prohibited by local and state Oregon agencies. Contracts between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and local jails are now prevented.

It also focuses on reporting and responding to violations of Oregon’s sanctuary laws.

With that law, the ODOJ also established a first-in-the-nation statewide hotline to report possible sanctuary law violations and provide “trauma-informed, culturally responsive support to community members.”

According to a July 1, 2024, Oregon Criminal Justice Commission Report, that hotline processed 34 alleged violations from June 1, 2023, to May 31, 2024. Of those, 29 were unfounded, the report said, and five required further investigation.

Meanwhile, in December 2024, the ODOJ rolled out the Sanctuary Promise Community Toolkit. This public outreach effort aims to help Oregon residents “familiarize themselves with the state’s long-standing sanctuary laws, the rights those laws protect, and the safety precautions to take to prepare for the possibility of increased federal immigration activity in our state,” according to a Dec. 18 ODOJ statement.

For instance, it instructs illegal immigrants that they have the right to refuse to open their doors to federal immigration officials without first seeing a warrant signed by a judge.

The toolkit includes brochures, posters, and public service announcements in English, Spanish, Urdu, Arabic, Haitian Creole, Russian, and Mandarin.

Oregon law allows any person to file a civil suit or bring a civil action against an agency that violates these myriad laws, and the ODOJ will help illegal immigrants get legal assistance.

“The law allows a person to sue the violating agency, asking a judge to order them to stop violating sanctuary law,” according to the ODOJ. “Oregon Sanctuary Promise Hotline advocates can help connect you to resources and legal agencies to understand what your civil legal options may be.”

The state has also expanded rights to illegal immigrants through programs that allow for driver’s licenses, access to health care, and paying attorneys to help with immigration cases.

Team in Training

To help state employees understand and comply, the interactive training module required by DAS and obtained by The Epoch Times explains Oregon’s laws related to participating in federal immigration enforcement.

“Your role as a state employee is to be aware of Oregon’s sanctuary laws and document and report suspected violations and requests from federal immigration agents to a manager,” the curriculum explains.

The training specifically instructs state workers not to cooperate with ICE. This includes asking law enforcement to deny federal immigration requests about illegal immigrants “in custody for violent crimes.”

Any agency or employee who receives a request for information or assistance regarding immigration enforcement is instructed to “report the attempt to internal agency management” for referral to the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission, the training continues.

Public bodies “may not inquire about or request information concerning a person’s immigration, national origin, or citizenship status” except when “necessary to determine eligibility for a benefit a person is seeking.”

Individuals who are in custody, on parole or probation, or on post-prison supervision “cannot be denied services, benefits, privileges, opportunities based on immigration status.”

In addition, the Sanctuary Promise Act requires “all requests made by federal agencies to state and local law enforcement and government agencies regarding immigration enforcement to be documented, reported, and denied,” according to the training.

State employees also learn that they are required to report inquiries into immigration status through the ODOJ Sanctuary Promise Hotline.

“Community members” may use it to report suspected violations of the state’s sanctuary laws and “obtain support to targeted individuals and their families in their language,” the training explains.

Any citizen may file a report. Following a report, ODOJ “can open an investigation on behalf of the state” and will “track violations and inform the public about who is in violation and if there are trends.”