This post has been updated to add comments from Commissioner Amanda Fritz.
Portland public defenders are hoping to be on the front lines of resistance against Donald Trump's stepped up immigration enforcement, and it looks like we'll all be chipping in.
Portland City Council next week will take up an emergency ordinance to contribute up to $50,000 to the Immigration Protection Project. That's a brand-new initiative being pushed by Metropolitan Public Defender (MPD), the state's largest public defense firm, which is looking for $250,000 to pay two attorneys who would assist immigrant families plagued by uncertainty as stone-faced US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents creep on people in the courthouse, and unsubstantiated rumors fly about immigration enforcement on TriMet.
"Immigrant and refugee families are rightly terrified," reads a document outlining the new program. "Unless they have money to hire an expensive private attorney, they may be unable to determine their risk for deportation or how to protect themselves."
According to the MPD proposal the new Immigrant Protection Project would help local immigrants and refugees in a number of ways.
If it can get the initiative off the ground, MPD says the project "could provide a national model" for how communities respond to immigration policies in the Trump age. According to the ordinance [PDF] council will vote on next week, The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Oregon, Oregon Law Center, Immigrant Refugee Community Organization (IRCO), and the Oregon Latino Health Coalition have all voiced support for the idea.
Commissioner Amanda Fritz tell the Mercury that MPD approached her with the idea weeks ago, and she pledged to work toward finding grant money. She subsequently asked Mayor Ted Wheeler's office to co-sponsor the ordinance.
According to Fritz, Portland will be the first entity to actually kick money into the new program.
"We're hoping it can almost be crowdfunded after that," she says. "There are a lot of people in Portland and elsewhere who are just begging for something to do other than marching."
The new proposal is just one new idea for helping local communities being jeopardized under Trump's nascent presidency. As we reported this week, the city is considering spending nearly $500,000 on an initiative that would combat instances of hate and intimidation in the Portland area.
"We’re thinking that their process is kind of complementary to this MPD proposal," Fritz says.