NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
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Friday, November 29, 2019
Court rule catches attention of White House
By JAKE THOMAS
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Oregon’s new
court rule intended to curb
immigration arrests in state
courthouses has drawn the
attention of two of President
Donald Trump’s Cabinet offi-
cials and set up a potential
legal conflict.
As part of the Trump
administration’s
hardline
immigration approach, U.S.
Immigration and Customs
Enforcement agents have tar-
geted state courthouses to
make arrests of individuals
suspected to be in the country
illegally. Immigrant and civil
rights advocates and attor-
neys have complained the
arrests have been disruptive
and discouraged immigrants
from serving as witnesses,
paying fines or participating
in other court functions.
Sharing their concerns,
Oregon Supreme Court Jus-
tice Martha Walters enacted
a rule earlier this month that
prohibits ICE and other agen-
cies from making arrests in
courthouses without a war-
rant approved by a judge. ICE
relies on civil warrants, which
are issued by the agency.
But in a Nov. 21 letter, U.S.
Attorney General William
Barr and Chad Wolf, acting
secretary of the U.S. Depart-
ment of Homeland Security,
asked Walters to reconsider
AP Photo/Mary Hudetz
U.S. Attorney General William Barr, left, and Chad Wolf, acting secretary of the U.S. Depart-
ment of Homeland Security, asked Oregon Supreme Court Justice Martha Walters to recon-
sider what they called a “dangerous and unlawful course of action.” Walters enacted a rule
earlier this month that prohibits ICE and other agencies from making arrests in courthouses
without a warrant approved by a judge. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement relies on
civil warrants, which are issued by the agency.
what they called a “danger-
ous and unlawful course of
action.”
“Cooperation among local,
state, and federal law enforce-
ment officers is in the pub-
lic interest and promotes safe
communities,” they wrote.
“The federal government
needs cooperation from state
and local law enforcement
to identify, temporarily hold,
and ultimately deport crim-
inal aliens who present dan-
gers to communities.”
Oregon’s rule has broad
support from advocacy
groups, law enforcement,
judges, legislators and Attor-
ney General Ellen Rosen-
blum. The letter comes as a
handful of states have sought
to curb ICE courthouse
arrests and raises questions
about whether Oregon and
federal agents are on a path
for a courthouse standoff.
In a statement, ICE indi-
cated it would “consider
carefully whether to refer
those who obstruct our law-
ful enforcement efforts for
criminal prosecution.” ICE
declined to comment on
whether the agency would
seek to prosecute judges or
other courthouse officials
who seek to enforce the Ore-
gon rule.
Barr and Wolf said that
the rule “cannot and will not
govern the conduct of fed-
eral officers acting pursuant
to duly enacted laws passed
by Congress.” They cited the
Supremacy Clause of the U.S.
Constitution, which gives
federal laws supremacy over
conflicting state laws.
Todd Sprague, spokes-
man for the Oregon Judicial
Department, declined to com-
ment on the letter but noted in
an email that other states have
similar restrictions on court-
house arrests.
“As we understand it, ICE
has abided by those judicial
actions,” he wrote.
So far, the most direct
challenge to ICE’s author-
ity to make the arrests came
in a federal lawsuit filed ear-
lier this year by a group Mas-
sachusetts prosecutors and
defense attorneys. In June,
U.S. District Court Judge
Indira Talwani issued an
order prohibiting immigra-
tion agents from making civil
arrests in or near state court-
houses in Massachusetts.
“Criminal defendants will
be unable to vindicate their
rights if they are taken into
ICE custody prior to appear-
ing in court or if witnesses
in their defense are too fear-
ful to visit a courthouse,”
wrote Talwani.
ICE has appealed the
ruling.
Shortly
after
taking
office, Trump issued execu-
tive orders intended to more
aggressively enforce the
country’s immigration laws.
ICE began conducting arrests
at courthouses.
In response to reports of
ICE arrests at Oregon court-
houses, the ACLU filed Free-
dom of Information Act in fall
of 2017 to find out how agents
were operating. According
to the ACLU, the documents
didn’t detail how frequently
the arrests happen.
But
the
documents
revealed that agency has
planned or executed arrests at
over a dozen courthouses that
together serve over 71% of the
state’s population.
Leland Baxter-Neal, staff
attorney with the ACLU of
Oregon, said that ICE has
to operate within the limits
of the constitution and state
laws.
“Obviously, the federal
government is not all-power-
ful and ICE is not all-power-
ful,” he said.
Baxter-Neal said that fed-
eral and state courts have
recognized the common law
privilege prohibiting civil
arrests of people attend-
ing court proceedings. He
pointed out Talwani cited this
privilege in her ruling.
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
TUESDAY
Mostly sunny and
very cold
Cold with clouds
and sun
Mostly cloudy and
cold
Cold with periods
of sun
Mostly cloudy
29° 16°
34° 20°
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
32° 20°
41° 28°
33° 24°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
35° 17°
35° 20°
33° 20°
40° 30°
34° 23°
OREGON FORECAST
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
43/25
29/19
37/12
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
29/20
Lewiston
41/23
35/18
Astoria
44/27
Pullman
Yakima 37/18
41/20
29/22
Portland
Hermiston
43/25
Salem
The Dalles 35/17
37/16
41/21
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
26/11
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Bend
40/24
25/9
26/9
Ontario
37/16
Caldwell
Burns
38°
32°
44°
30°
67° (2014) 0° (1931)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Albany
Eugene
Trace
0.01"
1.10"
4.95"
6.80"
8.38"
WINDS (in mph)
35/16
28/-4
0.02"
0.27"
1.36"
11.58"
8.70"
11.35"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
29/16
41/22
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
HERMISTON
Enterprise
Pendleton 25/11
41/23
Corvallis
33°
28°
43°
30°
71° (1892) -13° (1896)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
42/19
Aberdeen
31/19
32/16
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
42/27
Today
Medford
41/22
Sat.
W 4-8
W 4-8
Boardman
Pendleton
NNE 4-8
NNE 4-8
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
31/9
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2019
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
7:12 a.m.
4:14 p.m.
10:17 a.m.
7:08 p.m.
First
Full
Last
New
Dec 3
Dec 11
Dec 18
Dec 25
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 86° in Fort Myers, Fla. Low -9° in Bodie State Park, Calif.
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
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40s
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ice
60s
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Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Photo
The Oregon Court of Appeals has tossed out an environmentalist lawsuit challenging the
state’s decision to take the gray wolf off the list of protected species.
Oregon Court of Appeals
upholds wolf delisting
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
SALEM — The Oregon
Court of Appeals has dis-
missed a lawsuit filed by three
environmental groups chal-
lenging the state’s decision to
lift endangered species pro-
tections for gray wolves.
The Oregon Department
of Fish and Wildlife removed
wolves from the state endan-
gered species list in Novem-
ber 2015. Lawmakers passed
House Bill 4040 during the
2016 legislative session,
which ratified the agency’s
findings.
Cascadia Wildlands, Ore-
gon Wild and the Center for
Biological Diversity sued to
reverse the delisting, argu-
ing it was premature and
not based on sound science.
Though the case was initially
dismissed, it was later rein-
stated by the appeals court.
On Nov. 27, judges again
tossed out the complaint, rul-
ing that HB 4040 rendered
the environmentalists’ peti-
tion moot.
“In this case, the Legisla-
ture has ratified the delisting,
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thereby providing the delist-
ing with the statutory effect
of removing it from a rule
challenge,” the court wrote in
its dismissal. “Consequently,
a decision on our part regard-
ing the petitioners’ chal-
lenge would have no practi-
cal effect, and the petition is
therefore moot.”
Wolves are still federally
protected as an endangered
species west of highways 395,
78 and 95 in Oregon.
The Oregon Cattlemen’s
Association and Oregon
Farm Bureau intervened in
the lawsuit to support del-
isting the wolves. Ranchers
have long argued they need
to be able to kill wolves that
make a habit of preying on
livestock, despite using non-
lethal deterrents, such as elec-
tric fences and range riders.
Killing wolves is allowed
under certain strict require-
ments in ODFW’s Wolf Con-
servation and Management
Plan, which was last updated
earlier this year.
Jerome Rosa, executive
director of the Oregon Cat-
tlemen’s Association, said
the court’s ruling was a long
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“We were glad to see that
the appeal was dismissed,”
Rosa said. “Justice was had.”
In a statement, the Oregon
Farm Bureau said the ruling
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ilies and the livestock indus-
try, which have long advo-
cated for responsible wolf
management in Oregon.”
Nick Cady, legal direc-
tor of Cascadia Wildlands
based in Eugene, said the
appeals court did not evaluate
whether delisting wolves was
scientifically defensible, but
simply based its decision on
HB 4040, which was signed
by Gov. Kate Brown.
“That was the main
grounds of the case,” Cady
said. “We’re really disap-
pointed that Oregon’s Dem-
ocratic supermajority is what
threw Oregon’s wolves under
the bus.”
The number of wolves
in Oregon has grown every
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began in 2009. As of the most
recent count in 2018, Oregon
had at least 137 wolves state-
wide — a 10% increase over
the previous year.
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