SEMI TRUCK
CRASHES
INTO CANAL
20 QUESTIONS
WITH RYAN
BARNARD
REGION/3A
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK/2B
Pope: Native
people have rights
over their lands
FAITH/8A
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2017
141st Year, No. 89
WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
One dollar
Your Weekend
•
•
•
ArtWORKz 2017 artist
reception at Tamastslikt
Tillamook Cheese Days
at the SAGE Center
“Til Death Do Us Part...
and We Part Tonight”
For times and places
see Coming Events, 5A
Weekend Weather
Friday
45
33
Saturday
41
32
Sunday
44
34
Watch a game
Boy’s basketball
vs.
Hood River vs. Hermiston
Friday, 7 p.m., at Hermiston
Girl’s basketball
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Kindergarten teacher Jessica Garcia reads a book to students of a combined class on Thursday at McNary Heights Elementary
School in Umatilla. Garcia’s class combined with Sarah Blake’s kindergarten class after more than half of their students did not
show up to school.
A day without immigrants
Across Hermiston and U.S.
people participate in protest
of immigration policies
vs.
The Dalles vs. Pendleton
Friday, 7 p.m., at Pendleton
Catch a movie
East Oregonian
and Associated Press
Warner Bros. Pictures via AP
Expounding the importance
of nonviolent confl ict
resolution two teachers
plan to fi ght each other
after school in “Fist Fight.”
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Abby Munoz, with the InterMountain Education Service District,
center, introduces Irrigon city councilor Marlina Avila Serratos
during a migrant parents meeting Wednesday in Hermiston.
Migrant families ask questions
about immigration, rights
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
Universal Pictures via AP
Matt Damon teams up with
Song dynasty warriors to
battle monsters attacking
the Great Wall of China in
“The Great Wall.”
For showtimes, Page 5A
As President Donald Trump
has begun to follow through on his
campaign promise to crack down
on illegal immigration, many
immigrants living in the U.S. both
legally and illegally are concerned
about the ramifi cations for them-
selves and their families.
An executive order issued by
Trump on Jan. 25 directed the
secretary of homeland security
to hire 10,000 more immigration
offi cers and called on local and
state police to detain or apprehend
people in the United States ille-
gally.
Locally, some organizations are
trying to educate migrant families
about their rights and advise them
See FAMILIES/10A
Immigrants around the U.S.
stayed home from work and
school Thursday to demonstrate
how important they are to
America’s economy, and many
businesses closed in solidarity
in a nationwide protest called A
Day Without Immigrants.
The boycott was aimed
squarely at President Donald
Trump’s efforts to step up
deportations, build a wall at the
Mexican border and close the
nation’s doors to many travelers.
In Umatilla and Morrow
County, where the U.S. census
estimates 9,900 foreign-born
residents out of a population of
87,000, the demonstration was
perhaps felt most powerfully at
schools.
Sixty-fi ve percent of Umatilla
School District students are
Latino, and superintendent
Heidi Sipe said 39 percent of the
district’s students were absent
Thursday. One classroom at
McNary Heights Elementary
only had six students.
“Honestly, we’ve also had a
number of students expressing
concern about (Immigrations and
Customs Enforcement) coming
to school,” Sipe said. “They
always ask, ‘Are they going to
take us?’”
Sipe said they tell students
that school is a place to focus
on learning and that there are
laws that help it stay that way.
The district is not even legally
allowed to ask students about
their immigration status.
Sipe said she also had more
staff missing than usual but does
not know their reasons for being
absent.
At the Hermiston School
District — which is 50 percent
Hispanic —1,438 students were
absent on Thursday — a quarter
of the district’s population.
Of those students, 1,183 were
Hispanic, according to district
communications offi cer Maria
Duron.
In Boardman schools, where
See IMMIGRATION/10A
Trump seeks pause in legal fi ght with revised travel ban
By SUDHIN THANAWALA
Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO — The
Trump administration said in court
documents on Thursday it wants a
pause in the legal fi ght over its ban
on travelers from seven predom-
inantly Muslim nations, so it can
issue a replacement ban as it strives
to protect the nation from terrorism.
Details of the new proposal were
not provided in the fi ling or at a
wide-ranging news conference by
Trump. But lawyers for the admin-
istration said in the fi ling that a ban
that focuses solely on foreigners
who have never entered the U.S. —
instead of green card holders already
in the U.S. or who have traveled
abroad and want to return — would
pose no legal diffi culties.
“I will not back down
from defending our
country. I got elected on
defense of our country.”
— Donald Trump,
President of the United States
“In so doing, the president will
clear the way for immediately
protecting the country rather
than pursuing further, potentially
time-consuming litigation,” the fi ling
said.
Trump said at the news confer-
ence that a new order would come
next week.
“I will not back down from
See TRUMP/10A
AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais
President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference in the
East Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday.