IMMIGRATION ARREST CIRCLE WIDENS: Three more Oregon asylum seekers—from India, Afghanistan and Iran—were detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the past two weeks, U.S. District Court filings show, bringing total arrests to eight in the month of June. The three arrests show that ICE is broadening the locations where it arrests asylum seekers, expanding beyond the courthouse arrests that have made headlines in recent weeks. In all three cases, petitions for writs of habeas corpus were filed June 24. One of the asylum seekers, a 24-year-old man identified only by his initials, EM, was arrested 10 minutes into his drive home from a required immigration court appearance, where he had received a continuance in his proceedings. EM writes that he was targeted by the Taliban in Afghanistan as a Shia Muslim and because of his Hazara ethnicity. In a declaration, he says plainclothed ICE agents followed him and a friend on their way home from the courthouse, threatening to break a car window if he did not follow them. “That scared me when he threatened to break the window and drag me away because it reminded me of the Taliban in Afghanistan,” EM wrote. Another petitioner, identified by the initials SF, was arrested on a routine drive to the gym, though he had a regular check-in at the Portland ICE facility scheduled for July 7. SF, a citizen of Iran, tried to file for asylum, but his final appeal was dismissed in January 2004, though “respondents have not been able to execute the final order of removal,” the petition reads. It emphasized that recent bombings in Iran have made human rights conditions in the country “atrocious,” and that the petitioner’s conversion to Christianity and his U.S. citizen spouse and children will “sharply increase the possibility of his imprisonment in Iran, or torture or execution.” The third arrest was of an Indian national checking in with the ICE office in Eugene.
COUNCIL EYES HIGHER PARKS LEVY: The Portland City Council is getting closer to agreeing on the size of a new Parks Levy to refer to the November ballot. The current Parks Levy is set to expire in 2026, and voters will be asked this fall to approve another five-year levy—likely at a higher rate than the current one. As WW has reported, Portland Parks & Recreation leaders have warned the City Council that without a near-doubling of the existing Parks Levy of 80 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value, the parks bureau will have to make major cuts, as much as a quarter of its services and programming. But the council must balance that need against a tax-weary electorate and the Portland Metro Chamber, which has made it clear its support of a levy will depend on its size and scope. On June 24, the council appeared to tentatively agree on a levy referral somewhere between $1.35 and $1.50. Councilor Angelita Morillo said she leaned toward a levy on the higher end of that range. “Hopefully, our business partners are going to be supportive of that because we need them to be team players here for our city, and not do attack ads on the Parks Levy,” Morillo said.
MYSTERIOUS LIQUOR PRIVATIZATION INITIATIVE MOVES FORWARD: Chief petitioners of Initiative Petition 43, which would privatize the sale of hard liquor in Oregon, crossed a key threshold June 26, when the secretary of state’s Elections Division certified their initial 1,000 signatures. That means the Oregon Department of Justice will now craft a ballot title, the next step before the chief petitioners, David Allison and Kyle LoCascio, begin gathering the 117,173 valid signatures they’ll need to qualify for the 2026 ballot. Neither of the deep-pocketed groups who favor privatization, the Northwest Grocery Retail Association, which funded failed efforts in the past, and United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555, is backing the initiative. The Oregon Beer & Wine Distributors Association, which has opposed previous privatization attempts and opposes this one also is mystified by who might bankroll it. LoCascio, who has experience gathering signatures, and Allison, a serial entrepreneur, have not yet filed to form a political action committee. Allison says the pair is merely seeking the “greater convenience” privatization could afford consumers…