Marion County is asking a federal court to determine whether it should follow state or federal law when it comes to immigration enforcement.
The case could resolve a long-simmering tension that has placed some in local law enforcement and other public employees in the position of feeling they have to decide which law to follow and which law to ignore.
In a lawsuit filed Monday, the county’s leaders asked whether they must follow Oregon’s decades-old sanctuary law that prohibits local and state resources from being used to enforce federal immigration law — or comply with an administrative subpoena issued this month by agents with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that sought information about four individuals on parole…