Protect Portland Initiative: February 2026 Progress Report

Overview

The City of Portland is committed to protecting the rights, safety, and wellbeing of everyone in our community.

Portland City Council unanimously voted in October 2025 to adopt the Protect Portland Resolution and pass the Sanctuary City Ordinance to safeguard residents against unconstitutional militarization and immigration enforcement by the federal government. Together these are known as the Protect Portland Initiative.

Implementation is being led by a coordinated, cross-bureau core team that includes the City Attorney's Office, Bureau of Human Resources, City Administrator's Office, Office of Equity and Human Rights, Office of Community and Civic Life, City Communications Office, and Public Safety Service Area.

Here are the recent steps the City has taken to implement these directives.

Immigrant Affairs Lead

View full size image of Professional headshot for Brenda Alvarado who is profiled sitting in a chiar.

Mayor Keith Wilson has appointed Brenda Alvarado as Immigrant Affairs Lead. This position is designed to strengthen the City's support of immigrant communities, build partnerships, and drive inclusive initiatives across neighborhoods, bureaus, labor partners, and local organizations. 

Alvarado is a dedicated bilingual professional with extensive experience in immigrant rights advocacy, policy implementation, and cross agency/organization coordination.

She will provide centralized leadership and policy guidance on the City's sanctuary-related policies and ongoing compliance with the Oregon Sanctuary Promise Act.

In addition, Alvarado will oversee citywide preparedness efforts, strengthening partnerships and coordinating tools, templates, decision-making frameworks, Know Your Rights resources and reporting procedures. 

Other key responsibilities include managing the network of immigrant affairs liaisons from city bureaus, facilitating resource sharing, standardizing protocols and ensuring employee needs are met.

Learn more about Brenda Alvarado.

City website is updated

Portland.gov/federal has been updated to include more resources for reporting misconduct and other issues related to encountering federal law enforcement agents.

Training is on track

The mandatory Sanctuary City Training for City employees is on track to be published this Spring. The training will include education on Sanctuary City policies, requirements for reporting ICE activity on City property, reporting violations of the Sanctuary Promise Act, and guidance on how to interact with federal law enforcement agents.

Planning for heightened federal presence

The Portland Bureau of Emergency Management is leading a Citywide preparedness framework for all bureaus to contribute plans for emergency response in case of heightened federal presence in our community.

Supporting legislation to rein in ICE

As directed by the City's Sanctuary City Ordinance, the Office of Government Relations is supporting proactive engagement by the City with Oregon's federal delegation and other Congressional leaders to rein in federal overreach regarding public safety and immigration enforcement.

On February 13, Mayor Wilson was joined by other large-city mayors in issuing a joint statement demanding that any Congressional funding agreement for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) include immediate reforms and an end to ICE's unchecked and reckless operations.

The Mayors urged Congress to support a 10-point framework put forward by House and Senate Democratic Leaders Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY). That framework includes reforms such as:

• Limiting the use of face masks by federal agents.
• Mandating visible identification and body-worn cameras.
• Imposing a higher standard for when federal agents may use force.
• Strengthening requirements for obtaining judicial warrants before conducting immigration enforcement actions.