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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (June 25, 2018)
3A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, JUNE 25, 2018 Feds must allow lawyers access to Justices won’t hear immigration detainees in Oregon case of anti-gay Immigrants housed in Sheridan ‘What the government says and what it does are two different things.’ By CONRAD WILSON Oregon Public Broadcasting A federal judge in Port- land ordered this morning that immigration attorneys be allowed access to 121 detain- ees being held in Oregon. U.S. District Court Judge Michael Simon ruled after hearing arguments related to a lawsuit filed Friday by the ACLU of Oregon. Immigra- tion attorneys have reported being turned away from the federal prison at Sheridan, near Salem. The detainees arrived at the facility more than two weeks ago. Some of the men were separated from their families as part of the Trump admin- istration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy. Attorneys say most, if not all, the men in the prison are asylum seekers. For weeks, immigration attorneys say, they’ve been turned away from the prison outside Salem while trying to represent more than 120 detainees being held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Most of the men being detained are asylum seekers, according to lawyers seeking access to them. Also, those attorneys say, none of the Nadia Dahab, attorney detainees have pending crim- inal charges that would jus- tify keeping them behind bars. Lawyers with the ACLU of Oregon said it’s highly unusual to hold asylum seek- ers in a federal prison, espe- cially ones who don’t have a pending criminal charge. Attorneys with the Ore- gon Federal Public Defend- ers Office and the Mexi- can Consulate in Portland are among the few that have been allowed inside to meet with the detainees. The ACLU of Oregon filed a lawsuit Friday arguing the federal government is violat- ing the constitutional rights of immigration detainees at the federal prison. The suit was filed on behalf of immi- gration attorneys and one of the detainees at the Sheridan prison. As part of the lawsuit, plaintiffs asked Simon for a temporary restraining order to allow the immigration attor- neys inside the prison. On Sunday, the federal government responded to the lawsuit. Government attorneys wrote that officials at Sheridan learned on May 30 they were receiving approximately 130 ICE detainees. “Due to the limited infor- mation (Bureau of Prisons) has regarding each of the detain- ees, the need to conduct and complete appropriate medical screening and the need to com- plete the other administrative tasks necessary to safely house the alien detainees at (the fed- eral detention center), BOP was not able to finalize the vis- itation procedures for these inmates until June 18, 2018,” government attorneys told the court. “BOP was aware of the need to allow such visitation, however, and has now imple- mented procedures for attor- neys to visit alien detainees housed at (Sheridan).” The government said in court papers that “both social and legal visits” take place for “alien detainees” on weekday afternoons. But attorneys represent- ing the immigration attor- neys say visits are not hap- pening at Sheridan for the ICE detainees. “What the government says and what it does are two differ- ent things,” said Nadia Dahab, attorney for the Innovation Law Lab, one of the plaintiffs in the case. “We have been asking for our clients’ respective consti- tutional rights, which repeat- edly have been promised and ignored, finally be ordered by the U.S. District Court,” she wrote in an email Sunday. “We are only seeking constitu- tional rights to which all per- sons are entitled. It simply is not enough for the government to now say that it will provide the rights in the future — those rights should have been pro- vided from the beginning of the detention process.” Government lawyers also wrote that officials at the Sher- idan prison plan to expand visitation hours later this week, following a “security assessment.” The detainees in Oregon arrived more than two weeks ago. Some of the men were separated from their families as part of the Trump adminis- tration’s new “zero tolerance” immigration policy. Earlier this month, some 1,600 ICE detainees stopped at the U.S.-Mexico border were sent to federal prisons in five states, including more than 200 at the SeaTac federal detention center near Seattle and 800 at a federal prison in Victorville, California. Immigration attorneys in Washington state have been granted access to detainees. Lawyers in California have not, though on Thursday a fed- eral judge approved a tempo- rary restraining order granting attorney access to the federal prison. Chinook Indian Nation moves a step closer to federal recognition By MOLLY SOLOMON Oregon Public Broadcasting A U.S. District Court judge in Tacoma has ruled that seven of eight claims brought by the Chinook Indian Nation will move forward. It’s a victory for the tribe, which has been fighting for recognition for more than a century. The August 2017 lawsuit stems from the tribe’s ongo- ing battle to gain federal sta- tus. Tribal members packed a federal courthouse last month to hear oral arguments on a motion filed by the U.S. Department of the Interior to dismiss the case. In a filing Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge Ron- ald B. Leighton largely sided with the tribe, denying seven of eight claims by the Inte- rior Department to dismiss the case, including a challenge to a 2015 rule that bars tribes from seeking recognition again. The decision also allows the tribe to argue they should have access to federal funds they won in 1970 as com- pensation for land the fed- eral government seized in the 1850s. The funds are worth about $500,000 and are cur- rently held in trust by the Inte- rior Department, according to court filings. The Chinook claim these funds have never been distributed to the tribe. “We live to fight another day,” said tribal Chairman Tony Johnson. “I know the community is buzzing right now, seven out of eight of our claims are gonna go forward. And that makes us all feel fantastic.” Leighton did rule against the tribe on one claim that would have allowed a federal court to declare recognition. He said granting tribal status still needs support from Con- gress and other branches of government. “The court in no way diminishes what members of the Chinook Indian Nation understandably view as an inconsistent process that lacks transparency,” the judge wrote. “Yet, this court is bound to adhere to the well-established legal principle that the issue of federal acknowledgment of Indian tribes is a quintessen- tial political question that must be left to the political branches of government and not the courts.” Attorneys for the Chi- nook tribe were disappointed Molly Solomon/Oregon Public Broadcasting Chinook tribal chairman Tony Johnson addresses a group of Chinook mem- bers, supporters, and other Northwest tribes outside the federal courthouse in Tacoma. ‘We live to fight another day.’ Tony Johnson tribal chairman that the first claim was dis- missed, but the ruling wasn’t surprising. “To be frank, the first claim is the more difficult claim,” said James Coon, who is rep- resenting the tribe along- side attorney Thane Tien- son. “There’s a long history of treaty recognition being left as a political question.” The tribe was briefly recog- nized in 2001, but had its sta- tus revoked 18 months later. One of the loudest voices in opposition to the Chi- nook’s federal status comes from another tribe, the nearby Quinault Tribe. They appealed the Chinook Nation’s status on the 89th day of a 90-day com- ment period. “With the Quinault Tribe, a lot of it is politics,” Tienson said, adding that the major- ity of landholders on the Quinault reservation are Chi- nook tribal members. “They’re concerned that the Chinook could be recognized and might adversely affect the amount of allotments.” Federal recognition would allow the Chinook to establish a reservation and gain native fishing rights. Tienson said it would also open up certain health, education and cultural benefits for the tribe’s nearly 3,000 members. “It is enormously important to these folks that their heritage and connection to their ances- WANTED Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber Northwest Hardwoods • Longview, WA Contact: John Anderson • 360-269-2500 Are You Losing “Family Care”? I’M HERE TO HELP! 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The justices’ order today means the court is passing for now on the chance to decide whether business owners can refuse on religious grounds to comply with anti-dis- crimination laws that protect LGBT people. That’s the same issue they confronted, but ultimately passed over, in the recent rul- ing in favor of a Colorado baker who also objected to same-sex marriage on reli- gious grounds. The court said in the Col- orado case that the Colo- rado Civil Rights Commis- sion expressed anti-religious bias in violation of the bak- er’s constitutional rights. Washington state courts will review the florist’s case for similar issues. It’s not clear from the record that the Washington Supreme Court will evalu- ate the Arlene’s Flowers case any differently in light of the Colorado ruling. There are no similar alle- gations that bias affected the state court decisions, and Washington Attorney Gen- eral Bob Ferguson said the recent Supreme Court rul- ing will have no effect on the case against Baronelle Stutz- man and her Arlene’s Flow- ers store in Richland. But the Alliance Defend- ing Freedom senior counsel Kristen Waggoner, who rep- resents Stutzman, said Fergu- son “pursued unprecedented measures to punish Barro- nelle not just in her capacity as a business owner but also in her personal capacity.” State Supreme Court won’t hear appeal of Sweet Cakes by Melissa Associated Press PORTLAND — The Oregon Supreme Court has declined to consider the case of Sweet Cakes by Melissa, the now-defunct bakery that refused to make a wedding cake for a lesbian couple in 2013 based on the bakers’ religious objections. The Oregonian reported Friday the Supreme Court turned down the case with no explanation. Melissa and Aaron Klein had been ordered to pay $135,000 to couple Rachel and Laurel Bowman-Cryer in emotional damages in 2015 after the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries found that the Kleins violated state anti-discrimination law. The Oregon Court of Appeals has upheld the order. Bureau of Labor and Industries officials see the Oregon Supreme Court deci- sion as an affirmation of the bureau’s original order. Lawyers for the Kleins said Friday they will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
