On Wednesday, October 15, Councilor Candace Avalos, Council President Elana Pirtle-Guiney, Council Vice President Tiffany Koyama-Lane, and Councilor Olivia Clark will present a joint resolution called the "Protect Portland Initiative" to the Portland City Council. The resolution aims to create a coordinated federal response framework, acting as a safeguard for Portlanders targeted by the Trump administration's aggressive federal overreach.
As Portland continues to weather increasing attacks from the federal government, Oregon elected officials have rallied together to protect Portlanders. City Councilors must use their legislative authority to defend their community, recognizing that while immigrants, our LGBTQ+ neighbors, and those expressing their free speech rights are primary targets right now, it could be anyone in the future.
"The Protect Portland Initiative is a way to organize the City's efforts to protect our most vulnerable communities during a time of unprecedented federal cruelty," Councilor Candace Avalos said. "Because we modeled it off the Protect Chicago Executive Order, it gives us the right platform to join a national conversation about organizing our efforts collectively as cities and states. It is my hope this is the first step toward a growing movement across the country to uphold our rights and responsibilities to the communities we serve."
"As an elected leader, I intend to use every tool I have to stand up for our community in the face of a federal administration that is hell-bent on singling out Portland in their attempts to drive our country backwards," Council President Elana Pirtle-Guiney said. "This resolution is yet another way that we will stand up against their attacks on the incredible progress our city has made. We will defend our neighbors, and we will do so in solidarity with one another."
Among its many provisions, the resolution will task the city administration with gathering information on how the federal government is enforcing its policies and if they're surveilling Portlanders. It also instructs the administration to convene community partners to develop rapid response plans for immigration raids and extends state and city sanctuary policies to city contractors. And it encourages new guidelines for the Portland Police Bureau to maintain and strengthen its separation from federal immigration enforcement and establish a process for investigating potential crimes by impersonators of ICE agents.
"I'm proud to represent District 3 as a co-sponsor of this resolution," Vice President Tiffany Koyama Lane said. "I want to remind us all that while we work hard to protect Portland in every way possible, we must not lose sight of what's at stake here: we are fighting to defend democracy for ourselves, our entire state, and our entire country."
"This farce defies common sense. The federal government is wasting tax dollars, violating the Constitution, and terrorizing nearby residents and neighborhoods," Councilor Olivia Clark said. "Our joint resolution clarifies Portland values in the face of this unwelcome attack."
Full text of the resolution can be found here.
The October 15th City Council meeting, where the resolution will be introduced, begins at 6 p.m. Unlike ordinances, resolutions do not require a second reading before a vote on adoption.