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A6 U.S. NEWS
Friday 26 OctOber 2018

Oregon voters deciding fate of pioneering sanctuary law

By ANDREW SELSKY proof of citizenship.
INDEPENDENCE, Ore. (AP) "They asked me if I am an
— Delmiro Trevino, a U.S. American, and asked me
citizen born in Texas, was if I had a passport," Trevino
waiting for a meal in a res- recalled.
taurant in Independence, The officers, acting on be-
Oregon, in 1977 when three half of federal immigration
sheriff's deputies and a po- agents, let him go after the
licewoman demanded he policewoman said she rec-
show documents proving ognized Trevino as a long-
he was an American. term local. Still, a deputy
"I was ashamed. It wasn't accosted him later.
right, what they were do- Trevino was so bothered
ing," Trevino, now 67 with that he and his wife Oralia
gray hair, said in an exclu- went to a legal aid group.
sive interview with The As- There, they found Barilla,
sociated Press. who suggested Trevino sue
The incident of racial profil- the law officers and the
ing led to Oregon becom- Immigration and Natural-
ing America's first sanctuary ization Service. Trevino felt
state. But now, Oregonians queasy about taking that
are deciding in the Nov. 6 step.
election whether to repeal "I told my wife, I have to be
the law, even as some oth- strong because of what I
er states, such as Vermont, was going to do, because
have adopted sanctuary this was the government.
policies and others, like In this Oct. 23, 2018 photo, Delmiro Trevino poses in front of a building in Independence, Ore., It's not a game," Barilla re-
Texas, have banned towns where the Hi-Ho restaurant used to be located. membered while sitting in
from approving them. Associated Press his house in Independence
Measure 105 in Oregon has on a recent afternoon.
become the most conten- Measure 105, said states and in what numbers," Es- racial profiling, and would The lawsuit was settled in
tious ballot measure facing should help enforce fed- quivel wrote in the voters' degrade community trust federal court in 1978, with
voters in the mostly Demo- eral law. pamphlet. in law enforcement," state the immigration service
cratic state. "Our nation cannot remain But among people of color Rep. Diego Hernandez, a saying it would not encour-
Rep. Sal Esquivel, one of sovereign without laws that — U.S. citizens and people Portland Democrat, said in age local law enforcement
three Republican state regulate which foreign na- in the country illegally — it an email. to make arrests on immigra-
lawmakers who sponsored tionals come here, when, has triggered memories of Latinos remember what it tion violations, Barilla said.
times when immigration was like before the sanctu- Still, raids persisted in the
roundups were common ary law went on the books. state. In the 1980s, Barilla
and raised fears that they'll "The culture in the mid-20th was elected to the Leg-
be stopped by police. century was, 'You can work islature, with the Trevino
The measure has split law here, but don't start looking case strong on his mind. It
enforcement. at our girls or going to our prompted the Democratic
Sheriff Thomas Bergin of churches,'" said Rocky Ba- representative to write the
Clatsop County, along Or- rilla, the first Latino elected sanctuary state bill, which
egon's northern coast, said to the Oregon Legislature. passed with bipartisan sup-
in a public letter that the "Police were knocking on port in 1987."I worked with
sanctuary law "tells illegal doors of apartment build- Republicans, who wanted
immigrants that Oregon ings. They set up road- a stable labor force," Ba-
considers immigration law blocks on Highway 99 and rilla said in a telephone
violations so inconsequen- stopped people, especially interview from Belmont,
tial as to be unworthy of if they were brown or La- California, where he now
police and sheriffs' atten- tino." lives. "The left saw it as an
tion." One winter night in 1977, end to racial profiling. Law
Fifteen sheriffs added their three Polk County deputies enforcement saw it as con-
names to the letter. Twenty and an Independence po- trolling their own goals and
did not. licewoman went into the funds."
Law enforcement officers Hi-Ho restaurant in the pic- Barilla said Trevino played a
who oppose the repeal ef- turesque riverside city and key role in the issue.
fort, such as Sheriff Pat Gar- confronted Trevino. Born in "He's the real Rosa Parks
rett of Washington County Weslaco, Texas, the soft- of the Oregon sanctuary
near Portland, said they spoken Trevino had moved movement," Barilla said,
need to direct their re- to Oregon with his family as comparing him to the Af-
sources elsewhere instead a boy. He worked in a ply- rican-American civil rights
of going after migrants, wood mill. icon who refused to sit in
and that erasing the sanc- One of the deputies the back of a bus in Ala-
tuary law would make grabbed Trevino by the bama. "He said 'No mas, ya
migrants afraid to report arm, forcing him to stand basta,' meaning 'no more,
crimes when they're victims as customers looked on. enough.'"
or witnesses. Like most Americans, Tre- "He used a couple other
"Throwing out the law vino didn't routinely carry colorful words," Barilla add-
would open the door to a birth certificate or other ed with a laugh.q