Wyden Invites Trump “Border Czar” to Participate in Multnomah County Town Hall
If Tom Homan wants to visit Portland for an honest, local discussion on immigration, Wyden says he should hear from Oregonians directly in community gathering.
Washington, D.C. – Amid reports that Trump-designated “border czar” Tom Homan wants to visit Portland, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden today invited the administration official to participate in the senator’s open-to-all Multnomah County town hall next month if he truly cares about local feedback on immigration policy featuring masked and unidentified agents snatching people off the streets.
“I would certainly welcome your participation at my next Multnomah County town hall, which I am working to schedule next month, so you can hear directly from Oregonians,” Wyden wrote Homan, Executive Associate Director of Enforcement and Removal Operations. “I have held more than 1,100 town halls in all of our state’s 36 counties, and these town halls provide Oregonians the opportunity to ask questions and share their views. Participating in one of these town halls would be helpful as you shape immigration and border security policies back in Washington D.C.”
Wyden noted in his letter that in his town halls since Trump took office in January and in other settings in rural, suburban and urban parts of the state, Oregonians have expressed serious concerns about the Trump administration’s sweeping changes to immigration policy.
“In these few short months, Oregonians have seen Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials detaining and deporting key members of our community, essential workers and entrepreneurs, without due process and in defiance of court orders,” Wyden wrote. “In our universities and colleges, students have seen their visas revoked without warning, disrupting their education and valuable research contributions. They have seen immigrant laborers with appropriate documentation stopped and questioned by federal agents on their way to work. All across the state, our immigrant communities have stated their justifiable concerns with seeking out healthcare, attending school, and requesting the support of law enforcement out of fear that masked and unidentifiable people claiming to be federal agents may target them.”
He also wrote that he has heard throughout the year from Oregon employers across several sectors—agriculture, healthcare, childcare, technology, and more—about the Trump administration’s hostile approach to immigrants and foreign-born students and workers has driven out talented and skilled professionals to seek opportunities outside of the United States.
“As a result, many critical positions remain unfilled at these companies and organizations, whose work support and sustain our state and national economies,” Wyden wrote. “As my constituents know, I have regularly voted for billions of dollars to enforce a secure border and have worked across the aisle on comprehensive immigration reform, all while pushing for a humane approach to immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and visitors from around the world. Oregonians share those goals, but they do not want to see federal agents and their military suppressing free speech and assembly, ICE and private contractors mistreating immigrants, and their leadership in D.C. wasting their taxpayer dollars detaining and deporting families who present no threat to public safety.”
The entire letter is here.
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