Some Oregon police agencies are distancing themselves from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement amid a recent escalation of immigration activity across the state.
Oregon State Police is the latest agency to draw boundaries with ICE – at the direction of Gov. Tina Kotek – by asking the federal agency to stop using Oregon State Police public spaces, including parking lots, for immigration enforcement.
The request to ICE from Oregon State Police was made two days after videos captured an ICE agent pointing a pepper-ball rifle at a community member. The crowd could be heard yelling and using expletives at federal agents while documenting a large caravan of ICE SUVs in the parking lot of the Oregon State Police Portland Area Command location earlier this month.
Federal agents had used Oregon State Police parking areas prior to the Oct. 10 incident, and at least on one occasion in May, federal agents transferred a person – who had been detained – from one vehicle to another car in the Oregon State Police parking lot in Salem, according to an interview and a video. Immigration enforcement in Oregon began to rise in the spring and continued to steadily increase through the summer before intensifying in early October.
The Hillsboro and Forest Grove police departments also drew a line between their agencies and ICE this month, with Hillsboro police declining to assist ICE agents and Forest Grove police barring federal agents from police restrooms.
Oregon State Police Superintendent Casey Codding on Oct. 12 sent a letter to ICE officials urging them to “consider using local federal facilities for immigration enforcement purposes and discontinue the use of OSP public spaces.”
In the letter, Codding told ICE officials that he learned that ICE agents used publicly accessible parking areas at facilities owned or leased by Oregon State Police to carry out immigration enforcement activities. He said Oregon state laws prohibit the use of public resources for the purpose of enforcing federal immigration laws and state laws also prohibit the establishment of “traffic perimeters that support or facilitate immigration enforcement activities.”
“Using law enforcement facilities for civil immigration enforcement violates Oregon law and may lead to significant disruptions within the workplace,” a copy of the letter said. “These include diverting limited resources from our principal mission and undermining our ability to provide consistent police services to the communities we serve.”
Earlier this week, Capt. Chris Zohner, a spokesperson for the Oregon State Police, said the agency follows state laws, but ICE does not ask Oregon State Police for permission to park in its public parking areas. ICE also doesn’t notify Oregon State Police beforehand, he said.
Zohner said parking lots are considered premises that are open to the public and anyone can park there without needing the agency’s approval. Even so, Codding sent the letter asking federal officials to stop.
The letter was sent at the direction of Kotek, a spokesperson for the governor’s office said. Zohner later said Codding drafted the letter in consultation with the governor’s office.
An ICE spokesperson didn’t respond to requests seeking comment.
On the morning of Oct. 10, several ICE vehicles were parked at the Oregon State Police location in Portland before a caravan of more ICE SUVs arrived flashing their lights, according to a community member who was among those documenting the incident and who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation.
“There was a few of us at that point that were yelling in our own way, telling them we didn’t want them there,” the man said, before one SUV stopped and an agent got out and threatened to spray him.
Videos show that community members documenting the scene were yelling multiple expletives to federal agents, and that an agent pointed a pepper-ball gun at the man.
The community member who spoke with the newsroom also recorded a May incident in which ICE agents transferred a detainee at the Oregon State Police location in Salem. He called for police to create policies about what law enforcement can do if contacted by ICE “so there’s clear guidelines and the public can see and count on” it.
At the local level, Hillsboro police have made their policy clear: They don’t assist ICE, at all.
The city of Hillsboro issued a statement late last week reminding the community that Hillsboro police don’t take part in federal immigration enforcement, in compliance with state law. Hillsboro police received reports of federal agents, or people who appeared to be federal agents, who were interacting with community members on Oct. 7, officials said.
On the same day, two ICE agents entered the lobby of the Hillsboro Police Department’s main station and “requested assistance, reporting that vehicles were following them,” officials said.
“HPD staff referred them to their own chain of command and informed them that HPD could not provide assistance,” the statement said. “The agents left the building without receiving assistance from HPD staff.”
Lt. Kevin Harrison, a spokesperson for the Hillsboro Police Department, this week said police don’t know who or how many people were following the ICE agents.
“We follow our Department policy when responding to incidents related to Federal Immigration Enforcement requests and to incidents involving Federal Immigration Agencies,” he said in an email.
He said the newsroom would have to file a public records request to get a copy of the police report regarding the incident.
Other local police agencies have recently made policy changes amid the immigration crackdown.
After a video circulated on social media of an ICE officer being escorted to use the restroom at the Forest Grove Police Department, officials on Oct. 7 said their policy had been to allow community members and law enforcement officers to use restrooms.
But following community concerns, the department changed its policy and will no longer allow federal agents or community members to use their restrooms.
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