Power to Remove Criminal Aliens Under Siege

April 27, 2023

IRLI project group pushes back on effort to shut down local cooperation with immigration enforcement

WASHINGTON—Attorneys United for a Secure America (AUSA), a project of the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI), on Monday filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the City of Cottage Grove, Oregon, and its Police Department, both of which are being sued by activist plaintiffs to enforce an Oregon law, called the “Sanctuary Promise Act,” that bans local law enforcement from cooperating with the federal government in immigration law enforcement. In filing the brief, AUSA represents Advocates for Victims of Illegal Alien Crime (AVIAC).

AUSA points out in its brief that Oregon’s anti-cooperation law is preempted by a federal law granting local officials the right to cooperate in federal immigration law enforcement; that the alleged harm that such cooperation causes to alien communities’ trust in police officers is too speculative to support the requested preliminary injunction; and that Oregon’s anti-cooperation law, by working as intended to keep criminal illegal aliens in the country, has devastating effects on these criminal aliens’ subsequent victims.

“It is hard to fathom why any state would want to endanger its citizens and legal permanent residents by protecting people who entered the United States illegally and then commit additional crimes,” said Don Rosenberg, president of AVIAC. “Look at the criminal record of any illegal alien who has killed someone, and you will always see they had prior arrests and convictions for other crimes. The Sanctuary Promise Act is nothing more than a promise made by Oregonian authorities that law-abiding Oregonians will become victims of criminal illegal aliens.”

“It is axiomatic that the protection of public safety is a core government function,” said Dale L. Wilcox, executive director and general counsel of IRLI. “With this anti-cooperation law, Oregon nevertheless hopes to prevent as many deportations of criminal aliens as it can. We hope the court sees this law as the disaster that it is, and does not construe it to block the public-spirited officials of Cottage Grove from exercising their federal right to cooperate with immigration officials to protect their community.”

The case is Rural Organizing Project v. The City of Cottage Grove, No. 23CV07691 (Ore. Lane County Circuit Court).