Portland City Hall Could Soon Spend Half a Million Dollars on Immigration Lawyers and Support to Fight Deportations

Commissioner Chloe Eudaly wants Portland, a self-proclaimed “sanctuary city,” to put its money where its mouth is.

Latino people rallied in downtown Portland on Sept. 5 to protest President Donald Trump’s plan to end the “Dreamer” program. (Photo by Diego Diaz).
By Rachel Monahan

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler has proposed spending $500,000 to defend against deportations.

City Commissioner Chloe Eudaly had requested city funds to defend all people facing deportation in the Portland area. An April 2 budget memo says 843 people in Multnomah County currently face deportation, nearly 600 of them from East Portland.

The mayor's $553.5 million general-fund budget, released April 30, includes increases for police and cops, but also this small yet notable expenditure.

When Eudaly requested the funds in March, she described it as a way for Portland, a self-proclaimed "sanctuary city," to put its money where its mouth is. "The hostile environment created by our federal administration," she wrote, "has required us to give more of ourselves in order to stand united against attacks on our immigrant communities."

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