No To Racial Profiling

Oregon’s sanctuary law has worked very well for decades. It forbids state agencies, including law enforcement, from using state resources or personnel to detect or apprehend persons whose only violation of the law is that of federal immigration law.

If Measure 105 passes, immigrants could be targeted based on how they look because of the perception that they may be undocumented. That’s not the kind of community I want to live in. That kind of racial profiling was going on before our sanctuary law passed and was the reason for its passage.

If this measure passes, immigrants will be less likely to talk to police, as victims of crime and as witnesses. That makes our community less safe for all of us. 

Of course anyone who violates Oregon’s criminal code should be prosecuted. That’s what happens now and that will continue to happen. And it’s not what this law is about.

This law is about diverting our local law enforcement resources to do the job of the federal immigration authorities. Those law enforcement resources are already stretched too thin.

Please vote no on Measure 105.

Emily Heilbrun

Eugene