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-
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tors be recognized,” Coon
added. “The Chinook know
it’s true, but to have the gov-
ernment not recognize them is
deeply hurtful.”
marriage florist
Court sends
case back to
Washington
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The
U.S. Supreme Court is order-
ing Washington state courts
to take a new look at the case
of a florist who refused to
provide services for the wed-
ding of two men because of
her religious objection to
same-sex marriage.
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.