After a local sheriff’s office presided over immigration agents’ arrest of a man inside a Marion County courthouse without a judicial warrant, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek and Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield jumped into action.
The Oregon Department of Justice announced an inquiry into the incident to determine whether the incident warranted “legal action.” It came amid concern that the arrest violated Oregon’s sanctuary law, which prohibits such arrests in courthouses and bars Oregon law enforcement agencies from assisting federal law enforcement relying on administrative warrants. Gov. Tina Kotek said she expected Rayfield to follow up on the incident “in a strong fashion” and told reporters that “there is going to be an investigation by the attorney general.”
“I have a general expectation that everyone in the state, no matter who you are, follows the law,” she said last month. “And our sanctuary protections and what that means have been on the books for decades.”…