Oregon, My Oregon

Atop Da Hill, Oregon House passes measure prohibiting landlords from asking about immigration status

The Oregon House on Monday passed legislation that would prevent landlords from asking about tenants’ immigration status. The state lawmakers voted 36-15 in favor of the bill, which comes roughly two months after the state Senate did the same.

“For too long, our immigrant communities have lived under a cloud of uncertainty and fear,” state Rep. Lesly Muñoz (D) said in a statement on the bill. “Today, we take a powerful step forward to ensure safe, stable housing is accessible to all Oregonians — regardless of their background.”

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek (D) will now decide whether the bill should be signed into law, vetoed or approved without her signature. Washington, California, New York and Illinois currently have a similar law preventing residents’ legal status from serving as a barrier to housing.

In 1987, the Beaver State was the first to initiate protections for immigrants by passing a sanctuary city law, formally preventing state and local law enforcement from cooperating with removal efforts led by federal immigration authorities. 

However, the Trump administration has sought to punish elected officials perceived to be interfering with U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations.

“[Attorney General] Pam Bondi has made it clear, and so has our president, that we are to take all criminals, violent criminals and criminals out of this country and to completely enforce federal law,” Alina Habba, the acting U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, said during an April appearance on Fox News’s “Hannity.”

Back when I lived in Oregon, which admittedly was a long, long time ago, you could probably have counted the number of illegal immigrants on two hands.