U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions will be in Portland Tuesday to meet separately with federal and local law enforcement, an administration official confirmed Sunday night.
Sessions will discuss multiple subjects, including immigration, violent crime, drug enforcement and the opioid epidemic, the official said. Sessions will not be making any public appearances, said the Justice Department official who asked not to be named because he's not authorized to speak for Sessions.
Oregon's U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams, who is among the federal law enforcement officials expected to meet with Sessions, did not return messages on Sunday.
Portland City Commissioner Nick Fish wrote on his Facebook page Saturday that Sessions would be in town this week.
"We need to let him know that Portland stands with our Dreamers," referring to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, the Obama-era program that has shielded almost 800,000 immigrants from deportation who were brought here as children. The young undocumented immigrants are known as "dreamers."
Willamette Week first reported on Saturday Sessions' upcoming trip to Portland.
Earlier this month, Sessions announced the Trump administration would phase out DACA, calling it an "unconstitutional exercise of authority by the Executive Branch," while President Donald J. Trump urged Congress to come up with an alternative.
Sessions also has spoken out publicly at least twice about the local case of Sergio Martinez, a "serial immigration violator," who was in and out of Multnomah County's jails six times since December, after the local sheriff and his jail refused to respond to a request by federal immigration officials to be notified of Martinez's release in December. Martinez is now in custody in Portland, accused of attacks on two women in late July, charged with sodomy, sexual abuse, kidnapping and robbery.
In an address in Miami in August, Sessions blasted Multnomah County's refusal to alert immigration officers of Martinez's release from jail in December. "How can these politicians hear this story and do nothing?" he asked. "By protecting criminals from immigration enforcement, cities and states with so-called 'sanctuary' policies make all of us less safe."
On Friday, a federal judge in Chicago issued a nationwide injunction that blocks Sessions' attempt to deny certain funding to so-called "sanctuary" jurisdictions, such as Portland and Multnomah County that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
Local activists have planned a protest to coincide with Sessions' visit to Portland.
Portland's Resistance, the political group Milenio.org and nonprofit Voz Hispana Cambio Comunitario have set up a Facebook page that reads, "Jeff Sessions You're not Welcome Here!!"
The protest is planned for 10 a.m. Tuesday, but a location has yet to be determined, according to the Facebook page.
