On March 22, 2017 Pendleton Police Chief Stuart Roberts met with local activists at Sister’s Cafe to discuss the American Civil Liberties Union’s list of nine “model” state and local law enforcement immigration policies and rules. Nine people were in attendance.
According to organizer Miriam Gilmer, the local group is part of the ACLU’s People Power movement. The purpose of the meeting on March 22 was to find out if the Pendleton Police Department supported the ACLU’s model law enforcement immigration policies.
Gilmer said that the group had already met with Umatilla County Sheriff Terry Rowan, and further stated that the group had presented the nine model policies to the Pendleton City Council. According to Gilmer, the City Council will “entertain a resolution adopting the nine model immigration policies and rules for local law enforcement” at the April 4th City Council meeting.
Chief Roberts began by reading Oregon Revised Statute 181A.820, which states that “no law enforcement agency of the State of Oregon or of any political subdivision of the state shall use agency moneys, equipment or personnel for the purpose of detecting or apprehending persons whose only violation of law is that they are persons of foreign citizenship present in the United States in violation of federal immigration laws.”
Roberts followed the reading of Oregon law with the Pendleton Police Department policy on immigration violations. According to excerpts from the Department Policy Manual obtained by the Pendletonian Times “unless immigration status is relevant to another criminal offense or investigation, the fact that an individual is suspected of an immigration violation shall not be the sole basis for contact, detention, or arrest.”
Roberts stated that every law enforcement agency in Oregon was required to ratify a racial profiling policy. Racial profiling is strictly prohibited by local department policy. Roberts says that Pendleton’s officers are tested electronically every day on their knowledge of the law and department policy.
Roberts says that in the 23 years he’s been with the Pendleton Police Department, only one Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent has been to the department. According to Roberts the last major ICE raid was approximately 20 years ago and occurred in Milton Freewater.
Roberts closed the meeting by saying that the Police Department has received no communication from the administration in Washington D.C. asking them to violate Oregon law.