PORTLAND — Voters in Oregon soundly rejected a measure to repeal the state’s first-in-the-nation immigrant sanctuary law against a backdrop of growing national anxiety over immigration in the run-up to Tuesday’s election.
Measure 105 was trailing in the polls late Tuesday in Oregon, a vote-by-mail state where many voters had cast ballots days before.
Oregon adopted a law in 1987 preventing law enforcement from detaining people who are in the U.S. illegally but have not broken other laws.
Oregon’s sanctuary law had its beginnings more than 40 years ago in the small town of Independence.
Delmiro Trevino, a U.S. citizen born in Texas, was waiting for a meal in a restaurant when three sheriff’s deputies and a policewoman demanded he show documents proving he was an American.
The exchange bothered Trevino, who went with his wife to a legal aid group. He eventually sued and the case was settled in federal court the following year.
But when the legal aid attorney who helped him was elected to the state Legislature, the Democratic lawmaker introduced a bill that passed with bipartisan support in 1987.
The proposal to repeal the so-called “sanctuary law” was the most controversial of several measures on the Oregon ballot.
Voters in Oregon also rejected a prohibition on state Medicaid coverage for most abortions and nixed a ban on future grocery taxes that many saw as a pre-emptive strike against a soda tax by the food and beverage industry.
They also rejected measure that would have required legislative supermajority to approve bills that raise revenue in any way — not just through new or expanded taxes.
The only ballot measure to pass in the state was one that will allow governments to use affordable housing bond dollars for public-private partnerships, making it easier to finance and build much-needed affordable housing.
Measure 103 attracted millions in campaign donations from the beverage industry and grocery giants such as Costco, Safeway/Albertson’s and Kroger, which saw it as a chance to prevent a soda levy statewide, but many Oregonians simply saw it as another attempt at a sales tax. The state is one of a handful that does not have a sales tax.
Former New York City Mayor and billionaire Michael Bloomberg — who favors taxes on sugary drinks — energized opponents with a donation of $1.5 million to oppose the ban just two weeks before the election.
Measure 106, which would have prohibited use of state funds for most abortion coverage, is not the first measure of its type to fail in Oregon.
Voters have previously rejected attempts to limit access to abortions, including in 1978 and 1986, and Oregon has not placed any additional state restrictions on the procedure since 1973, when it became federally legal.
A measure requiring parental notification before a minor’s abortion failed in 2006.
