Dear Mr. Homan, I write to you regarding your recently stated plans to visit my hometown of Portland, Oregon. I hope that you intend to visit Oregon to learn about how your policies and tactics are impacting American communities. The best way to do this is the “Oregon Way” of having open-to-all town hall meetings to hear from, and answer to, ordinary Oregonians. 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. 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.
Since Donald Trump took office in January, Oregonians have expressed their serious concerns to me about the Trump administration’s sweeping policy 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. In our universities and colleges, students have seen their visas revoked without warning, disrupting their education and valuable research contributions. Oregonians 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.
In rural, suburban, and urban counties, I have heard from Oregon employers across several sectors—agriculture, healthcare, childcare, technology, and more—state their concerns with finding and maintaining a workforce for industries essential to my state’s well-being. They have shared concerns about the Trump administration’s hostile approach to immigrants and foreignborn students and workers, which has driven 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.
If you are willing to participate in an open-to-all town hall, as almost every Oregon federal representative does, you will hear my constituents share their concerns about these issues as well as about rising healthcare, housing, and childcare costs. They will share in detail how they are affected by the Trump administration’s decision to slash critical federal programs that support middle-class and working families, all while increasing the budget for immigration enforcement and border security.
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, 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.
I hope you will consider joining me in a town hall in Multnomah County as you plan out your visit to Portland, Oregon.
Sincerely,
Ron Wyden
United States Senator
