Attorney General Dan Rayfield today asked a federal court to dismiss Marion County’s lawsuit regarding Oregon’s sanctuary laws because the law is already clear as to what Marion County must do: Like other public bodies and law enforcement agencies in Oregon, the county cannot release immigration information to federal officials in response to administrative subpoenas unless and until a court issues a judicial order, requiring them to do so. The law is clear on that point and, as a result, there is nothing for the federal district court to clarify in Marion County’s lawsuit.

“Oregon law is straightforward,” said Attorney General Rayfield. “The Ninth Circuit has already ruled that there is no conflict between our sanctuary law and federal law. Public bodies can’t use state resources to help enforce federal immigration law. That’s been the law for nearly four decades, and it is a law that has coexisted peacefully under seven presidential administrations. There’s nothing confusing about that.”