LINCOLN CITY, Ore. (AP) — A sheriff in Oregon says he has contacted the FBI and is growing concerned about a letter circulating in his rural coastal community asking people to write down the license plate numbers of possible immigrants .
The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office issued a news release Thursday condemning the letters that have appeared across the county and describing them as divisive. Sheriff Curtis Landers told KPTV that he contacted federal authorities after receiving such a letter himself.
The FBI said Friday it was aware of the mailings. In a statement, it encouraged community members who feel physically threatened to report their concerns to police.
The letter asks the recipient to be alert while sitting in the church parking lot or waiting in line to pick up their children at school in order to write down the license plate numbers of cars believed to belong to them to immigrants who may not have permanent legal status. .
The sheriff’s office said it is committed to enforcing Oregon’s sanctuary law, which in most cases prohibits local law enforcement from investigating a person’s immigration or citizenship status and sharing that information with the federal authorities.
“We encourage our community members to do the right thing and use compassion when we encounter messages like this,” the sheriff’s office said in its news release. “We strongly discourage engaging in activities such as those described in this letter, including collecting or sharing information about individuals based on their demographic or perceived immigration status.”
Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum similarly condemned the letters. “Attempts to intimidate our communities and their leaders through racist letter-writing campaigns have no place in Oregon, and we will continue to unite in opposition to those who seek to divide us,” she said in a statement Friday.
The Associated Press sent an email to the sheriff’s office Friday seeking comment and asking for the number and method of distribution of the letters. When reached by phone, the sheriff’s office said Landers and his spokesperson were both out of the office and could not respond to calls or emails that day.
Landers received a copy of the letter in his mailbox, according to KPTV. Elsewhere in the county, the mayor and city council members of the small town of Toledo and the mayor of Lincoln City also received copies in the mail, KKG reported.
In response to Trump’s promises to carry out mass deportations during his second term, interest groups throughout the country have hosted know your rights training to teach immigrants how to protect themselves and their loved ones. The training takes place in immigrant-friendly states, including California and Illinois – both of which have been implemented protections for immigrants in response to Trump’s focus on enforcement during his first administration — and to those with stricter laws affecting immigrants, such as Florida.
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Meanwhile, officials in a growing number of Republican-led states propose giving local police officers the power to arrest people who have entered the country illegally recent laws in Texas and elsewhere that have been put on hold while courts ponder whether they are unconstitutionally usurping federal authority.
Oregon became the first sanctuary state in 1987. The law prohibits local and state police from participating in federal immigration enforcement without a court order, and also bans private immigration detention centers in the state.
Oregon’s sanctuary law has been updated and strengthened over the years, including in 2021 when the Legislature passed a measure creating a hotline for reporting violations of the law.