Know Your Rights

Oregon values immigrants and refugees

Oregon has made significant strides toward a more just, equitable, and caring democracy for immigrant Oregonians. These strides have included strengthening Oregon’s sanctuary law, ensuring migrant farm workers are paid and treated fairly, and funding legal resources that ensure immigrants can partner with strong advocates to navigate the complexities of the immigration system. 

National Politics Threaten Immigrant and Refugee Oregonians

We still have a long way to go, and our efforts are challenged by hostility towards immigrants and refugees fueled by the national political landscape.

Across the country, both Democratic and Republican government officials continue to implement harmful anti-immigrant policies, tearing apart families and communities. Rather than finding fair and inclusive solutions, many politicians remain committed to harsh exclusionary measures that incite fear and instability.

Potential Expansion of ICE Detention Centers

One of the national threats that may be directed at Oregon is the expansion of ICE detention facilities into our state. ICE has signaled plans to expand detention nationwide despite the long rap sheet of abuses occurring at ICE detention facilities. ICE has solicited formal information requests to locate new facilities in specific field offices that would impact fifteen states, including Oregon. 

While Oregon jails and prisons cannot lawfully be used as ICE facilities, there are private companies like CoreCivic and The GEO Group that contract with ICE and provide nearly 90% of the ICE detention capacity.

Despite strong public demand, we still do not have a permanent pathway to citizenship for the hundreds of thousands of Dreamers — young immigrants who have spent most of their life in the United States. In fact, 75% of voters across key swing states support policies that protect immigrant youth and provide a clear pathway to citizenship for them. This reflects the fact that a vast majority of Americans recognize the contributions these young people make to their communities and believe they deserve a future here.

Meanwhile, the United States has spent nearly $409 billion on enforcing immigration laws through the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) since its creation in 2003, prioritizing detention and deportation over meaningful reform. Public opinion shows a clear preference for change, as 71% of voters agree that our focus should shift toward community safety and inclusion rather than detention and deportation. Despite this, ICE detention has increased 140% since the start of the Biden administration, further harming immigrant families. This system is both costly and cruel. Over the past four years, ICE has reported at least 43 deaths in its custody, and a recent ACLU study found that 95% of these deaths were likely preventable with adequate medical and mental health care. These abusive conditions also come at an immense cost to taxpayers, while enriching private prison corporations. For-profit companies like CoreCivic and The GEO Group have earned over $1 billion in revenue from ICE contracts in 2022 alone.

We must move away from policies driven by fear and build a system that respects the dignity and contributions of immigrants, while enhancing safety for everyone. The American public is ready for a compassionate and effective approach to immigration reform.

No matter who is elected in November, we know we have to get to work to fight for our rights to be free in the United States regardless of our immigration status. The ACLU has produced memos outlining concerns specific to each presidential candidate. You can read the Trump memo here and the Harris memo here. 

If you or somebody you love is an immigrant living in Oregon, you have rights. Check out the link below to learn more and share it widely with your communities.

KNOW YOUR YOUR RIGHTS: IMMIGRANTS' RIGHTS

The First Amendment protects your right to speak freely, organize with others for a common cause, and criticize the government. At the core of these rights is the right to protest, but these rights extend to public forums well beyond the streets. 

Important note: The Bill of Rights, including the First Amendment, constrains the government, not private actors like companies or employers, from interfering with the basic freedoms that allow us to participate in our democracy.

Law enforcement in the United States has long been wielded to silence government critics, especially those fighting for greater equality in our democracy. Police in Oregon are no different. Whether it be through severe violence, including large volumes of so-called less lethal munitions like tear gas and rubber ball blast grenades, unjustified arrests, surreptitious surveillance, or the like, Oregon police have targeted activists demanding that our democracy be a place of greater racial justice, environmental justice, immigrant justice, and more.

In 2020, we saw a national surge in protests calling for an end to police violence against Black Americans. But Police in Oregon and nationwide responded with extreme violence. For example, in Portland in 2020, the Portland Police reported 6,283 uses of force at protests during a 5-month period. 

Forensic Architecture captured one of the most violent days in its study of the impacts of the infamous “Teargas Tuesday.”

It was a constitutional crisis of a new magnitude, and how did the Trump Administration respond? The Trump Administration’s Department of Homeland Security, led by the purported Acting Director Chad Wolf, deployed their own unprecedented level of militarized police violence in a response they dubbed “Operation Diligent Valor.” 

Operation Diligent Valor was marked with violent and indiscriminate use of police weapons, which included an eerie pattern of impact munitions being fired at the heads of protesters. Like the Portland police, there were large volumes of tear gas used against crowds of protesters that federal courts agreed were largely peaceful during the summer of 2020. Journalists and legal observers attempting to document the police violence were also targeted with force, arrest, and dispersal. Federal law enforcement participating in Operation Diligent Valor were poorly marked, and, in some instances, made unjustified arrests in an entirely anonymous manner. In short, the Trump Administration terrorized protesters in Portland.

Protest has always been a core driver of change throughout our history and we are here to empower you to be bold and unafraid. If you are ready to take a stand against government abuses of power, call for change in our democracy, or advocate for the rights of your neighbors click the link below.

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS: FIRST AMENDMENT PROTECTIONS

In 1969, The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that “students do not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.”

This means that any school policy restricting speech would need to be justified on constitutional grounds. Schools can not restrict students’ freedom to speak out or express themselves, nor punish them for engaging in First Amendment behaviors like protesting or wearing clothes to match their gender identity or political affiliation, on or off campus. 

ALL students, regardless of immigration status, race, sex, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or language spoken, are welcome in public schools and should be offered equitable learning experiences and opportunities.  

Increasingly, fringe extremist groups and politicians throughout the nation are trying to impede on students’ fundamental rights in public schools by restricting which bathrooms students can use, which sports they can play, the books they can read, the history they can learn about, and even imposing specific religious beliefs and practices on classrooms.

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS: STUDENTS' RIGHTS 

Oregon law (ORS 181A.250) prohibits law enforcement agencies from collecting or maintaining information on an individual’s political, religious, or social activities unless directly related to criminal investigations.

Recent reports revealed that some Oregon police departments are monitoring activists, social justice groups, and peaceful protesters, violating ORS 181A.250 legal protections.

If you're concerned that local law enforcement may have unlawfully monitored you, you have the right to file a public records request to obtain records related to the surveillance.

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS: UNLAWFUL POLICE SURVEILLANCE