ACLU, activists sue Columbia County over illegal workers measure

Lawsuit challenges county's standing to enforce immigration law

By Darryl Swan

The South County Spotlight, Dec 11, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (71 Reader comments)

Darryl Swan / The South County Spotlight

D. Michael Dale, left, executive director of the Northwest Workers' Justice Project, argues immigration law outside the Columbia County County Courthouse with Wayne Mayo, right, following introduction of an American Civil Liberties Union-backed lawsuit intended to dismiss a voter-approved measure passed in November that penalizes any county-based employer who hires an illegal alien. Mayo crafted the measure, which passed with 57.51 percent approval.

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The American Civil Liberties Union joined with state and local worker activists Thursday to jointly file a lawsuit in Columbia County Circuit Court aimed at scuttling a measure passed in November that penalizes employers inside the county who hire illegal aliens.

A lead argument of the lawsuit is that immigration reform of the type spelled out in the voter-approved measure, passed as initiative 5-190, is beyond Columbia County’s and the state’s jurisdictions.

Also at question is whether the county has the right to enforce the hiring practices of employers located in cities within the county limits, including St. Helens and Scappoose.

“Basically, we’re saying that the measure as proposed in Columbia County is not an Oregon solution to an Oregon problem,” said D. Michael Dale, executive director for the Northwest Workers’ Justice Project. The project's mission is to improve workplace rights for low-wage and immigrant workers in the Pacific Northwest, with special emphasis on the Portland metropolitan region.

The measure would require employers to verify the legality of their employees through E-Verify, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security-operated database where employers can input data, such as Social Security information, and retrieve information regarding a person’s legal status to work in the United States.

Employers who knowingly hire an illegal alien could then be fined by the county up to $10,000, and could have their business licenses revoked, according to the measure. Opponents of it point out that the county has no authority a city- or state-issued business license.

Dale said the measure has “federal and constitutional questions,” and is also flawed because of unyielding language that could result in penalties against the county; if, for example, the county is unable to adequately provide the costly enforcement, which would strain an already depleted sheriff’s office that only last year announced it was jettisoning a chunk of its patrol duties due to a lack of manpower, the county could be held legally liable.

“That is one of the ways this measure is flawed,” Dale said.

The lawsuit names 28 plaintiffs who have filed against Columbia County, its district attorney, board of commissioners and each commissioner individually. Occurring parallel to the ACLU-backed action is an effort by Columbia County to sort out exactly what it can and cannot do respective of the passed measure.

The county’s legal department is asking the court to give its stamp of approval on the measure’s validity, with suggested changes, as it relates to the county’s legal authority to enforce it.

Lawsuit proponents raised legal questions regarding the county’s attempt to validate the measure, which passed with 13,631 votes, or 57.51 percent approval of the electorate, considering that the county has yet to formally adopt it, but it is clear the county is hesitant to adopt the measure with so many legal clouds hanging over it. In September, for instance, the county’s legal department released an analysis of the measure, citing numerous flaws.

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