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THE ASTORIAN • TuESdAy, AuguST 13, 2019
PERS: Pension changes
lead to another battle
Continued from Page A1
Nicole Bales/The Astorian
Immigrant rights advocates want legal and political help against ICE.
ICE: ‘Tactics ... deter people from accessing justice’
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Immigrant Justice. “Every
day, we’re hearing reports
of pepper spray in our court-
houses. Every day, com-
munities are living in fear
because they’re afraid to
do their business at court-
houses, which are supposed
to keep us safe.”
Hundreds of people
formed a tight circle in
front of the courthouse,
where they called for Ore-
gon Supreme Court Chief
Justice Martha Walters to
take action and lawyers
announced their legal claim
against ICE.
About 300 clergy leaders
with the Interfaith Move-
ment for Immigrant Jus-
tice signed a letter asking
Walters to issue an emer-
gency rule prohibiting ICE
arrests at or near county
courthouses.
The ACLU claims ICE
agents unlawfully detained
Andrade-Tafolla
with-
out a warrant, reason-
able suspicion or probable
cause, said Caitlin Mitch-
ell, an attorney represent-
ing Andrade-Tafolla. The
tort claim seeks $100,000
in damages.
“Being a U.S. citizen
working for the government
itself, I just feel betrayed,”
said Andrade-Tafolla, a
county road maintenance
worker.
“Today I get to fight back
through the legal system.
These federal agents must
be held accountable. Immi-
grants and people of color
make this county great.
Latinos make this country
great. We are hard workers
and folks that come here
to provide for their fami-
lies and to hope for a bet-
ter future.”
Many judges — includ-
ing Judge Paula Brown-
hill, the presiding judge of
the Clatsop County Cir-
cuit Court — have said
ICE enforcement actions
at courthouses could deter
criminal defendants, crime
victims and witnesses from
coming to court.
Two years ago, after the
incident with Andrade-Ta-
folla outside the Washing-
ton County Courthouse,
Bonamici was among the
lawmakers behind the Pro-
tecting Sensitive Locations
Act, which would make
ICE’s policy the law and
cover courthouses.
“These overly aggres-
sive tactics spark fear and
deter people from access-
ing justice, and I was dis-
turbed to see yet another
aggressive ICE action
inside the Clatsop County
Courthouse,” the Oregon
Democrat said in an email.
“These types of inci-
dents in and around court-
houses are increasing in
frequency and severity,
sometimes getting physi-
cal and causing panic. This
promotes fear and mistrust
in law enforcement, which
serves no one.”
Wyden and Merkley
introduced the Protecting
Sensitive Locations Act in
the U.S. Senate in July, but
the Oregon Democrats are
unlikely to be successful
while Republicans control
the Senate.
Bonamici believes the
bill can pass in the House,
where Democrats are in the
majority.
“We will continue to
provide needed oversight
of ICE and other agencies,
which my Protecting Sen-
sitive Locations Act would
help strengthen,” the con-
gresswoman said. “I’m also
encouraged by efforts in
Oregon to take action that
complements my federal
bill at the state level.”
Under ICE’s policy,
enforcement actions should
not occur at sensitive loca-
tions unless there are press-
ing circumstances, other
law enforcement actions
have led officers to the sen-
sitive location, or prior
approval is obtained from a
supervisor.
ICE also has guidelines
for detentions at court-
houses, but has strongly
defended the practice.
Tanya Roman, an ICE
spokeswoman, said in a
statement after Zamora-Ro-
driguez’s detention at the
Clatsop County Courthouse
that enforcement actions
taken inside courthouses
can reduce safety risks to
the public.
“ICE does not make
civil immigration arrests
inside courthouses indis-
criminately,” she said.
“As with all other federal
agency planned enforce-
ment actions, ICE arrests at
courthouses are the result
of targeted enforcement
actions against specific, tar-
geted aliens.”
Z a m o r a - R o d r i g u e z ’s
mother
and
partner
appeared with immigrant
rights advocates at a town
hall Wednesday night at the
First Presbyterian Church
in Astoria. Advocates did
not provide much more
information on Zamo-
ra-Rodriguez’s immigra-
WE HA
HAVE
100 FLAVORS
OF SALT,
YET OUR
BANK STILL
SPICED UP
OUR BUSINESS .
Fattori: ‘Everyone needs
to know what’s going on’
Continued from Page A1
Her proudest moment at
the Port came less than two
months after being hired
when Mike Weston, a for-
mer staffer who worked his
way up to interim executive
director, elevated her to be
his executive assistant. In
that role, she has served as
a liaison between the Port
Commission and the exec-
utive director, while mak-
ing sure the agency follows
public meetings law.
“I think transparency is
important,” she said. “I feel
everyone needs to know
what’s going on.”
Fattori
has
lasted
through
three
execu-
tive directors, including a
short stint under Weston,
nearly five years under Jim
Knight and her last couple
of months under Will Isom,
who was appointed to lead
the agency after Knight’s
resignation in June.
The Port is the lon-
gest — and the favorite
— installment of Fatto-
ri’s career. But with a proj-
ect to digitize many of the
Port’s documents back to
the agency’s founding in
1915 largely wrapped up,
she said she didn’t feel
as needed in the office.
Her next stop is manag-
ing the business office of a
local senior assisted living
community.
Fattori said she isn’t
done with the Port yet,
though, with intentions of
one day running for a seat
on the Port Commission.
“When I first started, I
decided within 15 years I’d
be on the commission,” she
said. “I’m five years in, so
maybe in 10 years.”
tion status, but said he was
being held at the federal
detention center in Tacoma,
Washington.
“Why are they com-
ing into the courthouse
and
arresting
people?
Yes, Fabian has a crimi-
nal case, but (is) innocent
until proven guilty,” said
Kendra Williams-Reyes, an
immigrant rights advocate
who was among those pep-
per sprayed while trying to
shield Zamora-Rodriguez.
Williams-Reyes is also
waiting for her husband to
be released from the federal
detention center in Tacoma,
after he and his sister, who
are immigrants from Mex-
ico, were picked up by ICE
last year in Pacific County,
Washington, on their way
to work at Willapa Bay
canneries.
“This is why we were
standing and protecting
Fabian, is because he has
the right to a fair trial,”
Williams-Reyes
said.
“Everybody does, just like
us citizens.”
The changes to the sav-
ings plan will impact work-
ers such as Jennifer James,
a secretary at Mulino Ele-
mentary School in Clacka-
mas County.
James is the lead plain-
tiff in the lawsuit.
Due to Senate Bill
1049, James expects to
have $18,000 less at retire-
ment than she previously
thought.
“That’s a lot of money
out of my retirement,” said
James, who has been work-
ing at the school for 20
years.
James took the job when
her kids were young.
The hours meant she
didn’t need to send her kids
to child care, and she knew
that while she would make
less money than she could
in the private sector, the
retirement benefits would
be “good” and “solid,” she
said.
“I love our families and
our students,” James said.
“Working at an elementary
school with young chil-
dren, it’s very gratifying.
You get to watch little kids
grow up.”
James said she expected
those benefits.
“Maybe it’s naïve in
hindsight,” James said,
“But when you get a job
working for the state, you
just assume that your ben-
efit is a guarantee, that
the state is going to keep
its word and this is what
you’re gonna get.”
Changes to Oregon’s
enormously
complex
retirement system are often
politically contentious.
Democrats hold the
majority of legislative
seats, and public employee
unions make up a power-
ful lobbying and campaign
bloc. Unions are paying for
the lawsuit.
The Legislature has tried
a variety of cost-saving
measures over the years.
The most recent reforms in
2013 led to another legal
battle.
In that case, Moro v. Ore-
gon, the Oregon Supreme
Court essentially said that
the state could not retro-
actively change retirement
benefits already earned by
public employees.
Lawmakers aimed to
abide by Moro by target-
ing future benefits only
in Senate Bill 1049. But,
Aruna Masih, the attorney
representing the employ-
ees said, that case looked
specifically at changes to
employees’ cost of living
adjustment.
The case filed Friday,
instead, looks at other parts
of the state’s retirement
benefits — the savings plan
and the final average salary.
“It is a different part of
the law,” Masih said. “And
we think we can make a
strong case to the court
why, based on the text, con-
text and legislative history
of the provisions … that the
court should find that these
are core benefits that are
required to be protected.”
Facing mounting debt in
the retirement system, Sen-
ate Bill 1049 also created
new financial maneuvers to
try to tame the impact that
debt is having on govern-
ment year to year.
By and large, state and
local government entities
such as cities and schools
have to pay more money
toward employee retire-
ments every year.
Combined with lim-
its on local property taxes,
proponents of the law say,
the situation is putting the
squeeze on government
services, diverting money
to pension costs instead of
local services.
“Vital services and pub-
lic sector jobs would be at
risk,” said state Rep. Tiffiny
Mitchell, D-Astoria, in a
letter explaining her vote
for the bill. “Not only that,
but the long-term viabil-
ity of our pension system
would be threatened if the
Legislature didn’t act.”
The Oregon Capital
Bureau is a collaboration
between EO Media group,
Pamplin Media group and
Salem Reporter.
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