When the Department of Homeland Security published their map of “sanctuary jurisdictions,” citing 14 states and about 200 cities and counties in 37 states, only four cities were named in Oregon: Portland, Beaverton, Eugene and…Hood River. The latter easily qualifies as the smallest city singled out, not just in Oregon, but in the Northwest. The Washington list covered Bellingham, Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia and Yakima, and Boise was the only city listed in Idaho.
Though the City of Hood River was on the Homeland Security list, Hood River County was not. Neither were Wasco, Sherman and 18 other counties of the 36 in the state.
The county list was very different in Washington, with 35 of the state’s 39 counties were labeled as sanctuary counties. Only Douglas, Adams, Yakima and Klickitat counties escaped.The list stemmed from an executive order signed by President Trump on April 28, requiring federal officials to publish a national catalogue of jurisdictions that “obstruct the enforcement” of federal immigration laws. Under that order, once the list was determined, each jurisdiction would receive formal notification to change local laws or face lawsuits or loss of federal funding.
But when the list was published on the Homeland Security website on May 29, it ran into a buzzsaw of criticism, and from an unlikely source – The National Sheriff’s Association. President Sheriff Kieran Donahue of Canyon County, Idaho, told NPR that the list was compiled without clear criteria or a way to contest designations, calling it “arbitrary” and urged DHS to take it down.“This list was created without any input, criteria of compliance, or a mechanism for how to object to the designation,” he said. “Sheriffs nationwide have no way to know what they must do or not do to avoid this arbitrary label,” Donahue said, calling on DHS to remove the list. “This decision by DHS could create a vacuum of trust that may take years to overcome.”
Many jurisdictions also objected, and the pressure was so intense that by Saturday, June 1, less than 48 hours after the list was posted, it was removed from the website. When and where it might return, and in what sort of amended form it might take remains to be seen.