August 8, 2018
Page 5
Tracking the Hate behind Measure 105
C ontinueD from f ront
groups throughout the U.S., in-
cluding the Ku Klux Klan.
To offset that effort, Oregans
United Against Profiling, which
includes the American Civil Lib-
erties Union of Oregon, launched
a kickoff campaign on July 28
where more than 500 volunteers
went door-to-door and canvassed
in more than a half dozen commu-
nities “from Astoria to Medford
and Bend to Portland” to spread
the word to “Vote No on 105.
“We’re working hard to make
sure that our friends and neighbors
to vote no on Measure 105 and we
went to different businesses across
the state to gain support and put up
our posters to show that we won’t
allow this law to pass,” Marquez
said.
It all started than 40 years ago,
in 1977 in the Hi Ho Restaurant in
Independence, Ore. A local police
officer and three Polk County dep-
uties came into the café and con-
fronted four Hispanic men about
their citizenship status. A depu-
ty grabbed the arm of one of the
men, Delmiro Trevino, made him
stand up and interrogated him in
front of other customers. Trevino,
of Mexican descent, was a U.S.
citizen and said he was humiliat-
ed. He later filed a class action suit
about the incident, which evolved
into Oregon’s sanctuary law.
Ten years later, Trevino’s attor-
ney, who by then was Rep. Rocky
Barilla, introduced a bill that be-
came the nation’s first sanctuary
law. It passed with almost unan-
imous bi-partisan support in July
photo by D oug b rown
Activists kick-off a campaign with Oregonians United Against Profiling, which includes the American
Civil Liberties Union of Oregon, to oppose Ballot Measure 105 in the November General Election that
would repeal Oregon’s sanctuary law, passed 31 years ago because of racial profiling.
1987.
Ironically, Barilla told Oregon
Public Broadcasting last year, the
statute was not intended to be a
sanctuary law, but “was meant to
protect local city resources from
using them to supplant federal
spending,” he said.
But because local government
agreed and supported his bill, it
became law.
Civil rights leader Ramon
Ramirez of Woodburn, accord-
ing to the ACLU Oregon website,
says he remembers what it was
like before the sanctuary law was
put in place.
“Before Oregon had this law,
I saw immigration agents, aided
by local police, busting down
doors and grabbing people off
the street, with no way of know-
ing their immigration status,” he
said. “My friends and neighbors,
including U.S. citizens, were
being harassed by local police
demanding to see their papers.
Passing this law made things a lot
better. Throwing it out would turn
back the clock and open the door
to more profiling.”
Ron Louie, retired Hillsboro
police chief, said the law has
helped increase trust in law en-
forcement, which is critical for
officers who rely on community
members to tell them when they
are victims of crime.
“Our Oregon law provides clear
guidance to local law enforcement
officers on how to handle com-
plicated immigration issues,” he
said. “It creates a bright line that
says local police should be focus-
ing on local problems.”
Marquez said the Vote No on
105 campaign has heavy support
from both large and small busi-
nesses, including Nike, Columbia
Sportswear, the Portland Timbers
and the Portland Thorns, the Port-
land Business Alliance, Living
Room Realty, Henkels Law LLC,
and other organizations, including
the National Immigration Law
Center, the Oregon Education As-
sociation, Service Employees In-
ternational Union, The AFL-CIO,
Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del
Noroeste, Northwest Treeplanters,
and Farmworkers United.
A complete list of about 100
business supporters can be found
at orunited.org, where people can
also sign up to volunteer, make
donations, register their support,
and be notified of future events to
combat Measure 105.
“From here on it’s going to be
a grassroots campaign, with con-
cerned people coming together
and talking to our neighbors and
friends about why it’s important
that we keep our current law,”
Marquez said.