Watch the full board work session at the link provided here.
The Multnomah County Board of Commissioners on Nov. 18 held a work session to discuss potential efforts to strengthen Multnomah County’s status as a sanctuary community and better support immigrants and other neighbors amid increased concern around federal activity.
The meeting explored concrete actions the Board can take — from policies and programs to a potential resolution, ordinance and budget options — to help protect the rights, dignity and safety of community members including Multnomah County employees themselves.
Some potential options include:
- Reinforcing rules around detainment and custody holds.
- Making clear that County services and programs are accessible regardless of someone's immigration status.
- Creating signage to designate “restricted access,” and sharing information about available resources with the community.
- Clarifying that the sanctuary laws apply to all County employees.
“What is currently happening in our community is not normal,” Chair Jessica Vega Pederson said. “What we’re seeing goes against everything Multnomah County stands for. As reports of more and more incidents escalate, many service providers want to work with the County in this response.”
“I have been sharing from the dais the names of people who have been taken from our community,” added Commissioner Shannon Singleton.
“We’ve talked about this in relation to food; to accessing County services, and to identifying opportunities to provide protection as best as we can for folks trying to access County services.”
Similar climate in 2016
Tuesday’s briefing was led by Salomé Chimuku, a policy advisor for Commissioner Singleton and Garet Prior, a senior policy advisor for Chair Vega Pederson. Both described impacts to community members and their own lives such as having to walk relatives filled with fear and trepidation to school.
“That’s the wild, terrible environment we’re in today,” said Prior.
Similar sentiments were felt in December 2016, when the Board unanimously approved a Sanctuary Status Resolution, which acknowledged public concerns about the ability to access services and the appropriate role of law enforcement.
But today, there’s a significant increase in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity in Multnomah County, said Chimuku, with reports of more than 500 immigrant-related arrests in Oregon last month alone.
“We’ve had ICE activity outside of County structures and programs," said Chimuku. “It's caused fear, confusion, and decrease in morale among County employees, with particularly great impact to immigrant staff, who are uncertain of what to do if approached by ICE.”
“In today’s environment,” added Chimuku. “We’re also seeing an increase in scam and fraudulent behavior targeting these community members. Many are choosing to stay home and only leaving when necessary.”
County Actions
County staff cast a wide net of input and feedback, working with departments, employers, community-based organizations, state representatives, and more, Chimuku and Prior said.
The County has already partially activated its Emergency Operations Center to help manage federal impacts, among other internal steps. The Board also approved $100,000 in contingency funds to help community organizations purchase and distribute food in the aftermath of delayed benefits during the recent federal shutdown.
From that engagement arose an important question – in building on the County’s initial work, “What is the cost of doing nothing.”
The key concerns included:
- Weakened trust between County employees and the community.
- Lack of trust between employees and community members and vice versa.
- The perception that the County is not “doing what we can do.”
- Continued disruption to County employees and services..
The team presented a list of policy options practices and supports, along with their respective costs estimates and impacted people.
Additional options include:
- Officially barring the County from entering into contracts with the federal government to operate or lease to immigration detention centers
- Clarifying protections around data sharing and disclosure.
- Clarifying the steps taken on detainment and custody holds requests when interacting with federal immigration law enforcement.
- Identifying prohibited uses of County funds
The team also identified supports for County employees and community providers such as:
- Identifying provisions to ensure that all County residents can access County services and programs
- Allowing international telework on Workday for immigrant employees making their way to County employment,
- Creating a leave bank for international bereavement travel and Visa renewal, and
- Flexibility in current contracts on deliverables and services provided to meet the needs of community members.
Commissioner Remarks
Commissioners expressed broad support for developing the recommendations.
Commissioner Meghan Moyer asked how residents, unable to visit a location in person, could access services.
“It varies from department to department, but it’s an important conversation to have because it impacts services throughout the County,” said Chimuku. “What are the things that have to be done in person; what can be done hybrid or in the community.”
Commissioner Singleton asked that conversations focus on what it will take to accomplish goals in the community, rather than why it can’t be done.
"It might be that we can't do this because it costs a billion dollars — that’s a conversation for us to have as a Board, not for it to be blocked before it gets to us,” said Singleton.
Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards thanked staff for the presentation, noting that it sets the stage for the conversation.
“We’re already a sanctuary county; this would create enhancements.”
She requested clarity on costs and identification of which items could be implemented in the short-term and long-term.
“Are there things that tomorrow we could implement because we already have infrastructure?”
Commissioner Vince Jones-Dixon also thanked the presenters.
“I think we should prioritize everything that’s on slide 9 (related to policy option practices). I shared this with community members to get feedback so my office will circle back.”
Chair Jessica Vega Pederson acknowledged the difficulty of any local organization to ensure access to services safely.
“We’re looking at all the ways we can pivot, to make sure people can access services as safely as possible," she said. “There’s a fine line … knowing that we cannot guarantee people’s safety and that’s really hard because we want to do that.”
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