An unrelenting string of burglaries targeting Asian Americans in Oregon inspired state lawmakers to give local judges more explicit powers to deny a suspect’s release from jail, and more changes to state law aimed at combatting the crimes could be coming.

Senate Bill 1516, which took effect on March 31, ensures local magistrate judges can consider community safety and the risk of a defendant leaving the area and failing to appear when denying bail. It came in the wake of multiple waves of burglaries targeting Asian American business owners in the Eugene-Springfield area with technology such as wireless internet jammers.

Over the past year, authorities and community leaders have described the activity as part of a sophisticated operation in the Pacific Northwest by Colombian nationals targeting business owners at their places of residence. Last year, Eugene police arrested seven individuals known as the “Skyline 7” who posted bail ahead of their trials. In June, local officials reported that the crimes were once again on the rise.

“We’ve talked to some of our local legislators,” said Jenny Jonak, president of the Eugene-based Asian American Council of Oregon. “I think the line that I’ve left them with is, ‘Please make sure the system is such that I don’t have to go back to victims and tell them that someone’s just going to get probation after doing something like this.’”

Eugene, Springfield Asian American households still may be targeted by burglary ring

The new law aims to prevent how six of the arrested individuals were able to post bail and secure their release from the Lane County Jail before appearing in front of a judge for a trial. Six of them ended up in the custody of federal immigration officials for deportation proceedings, according to Lane County District Attorney Christopher Parosa. He reached out to the U.S. Attorney’s office to assist in charging the suspects in federal court instead.

“I was certainly frustrated by the federal government’s attempt to simply deport these offenders without having them held accountable for their crimes against Lane County citizens,” he said in a statement. “However, I was equally frustrated by Oregon’s weak pretrial detention laws that made federal immigration processes possible.”

But the new law doesn’t make any new changes to state law. Rather, it clarifies that judges have always had the power to consider factors such as a risk of leaving the area, according to state Sen. Floyd Prozanski, a Eugene Democrat who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Community asked to stay vigilant as burglaries continue to affect Asian American businesses in Eugene area

That will allow them to give less weight to guidelines on pretrial release offered by Oregon Chief Justice Meagan A. Flynn, which critics say offers too much power to pretrial release officers and with little advice on flight risks. Laura Kerns, a spokesperson for the Oregon Judicial Department, said it was too early for the agency to determine the impact of the new law.

“Hopefully at this point judges are empowered to make those decisions on their own, independent of any other memorandums or whatever discussions have happened in the courts,” Prozanski said. “That is one of the things that I wanted to make certain, is that it was clear in the law (that) the judges can, in fact, apply it and take in consideration flight risk.”

More legislation could respond to community concerns

None of the burglary ring suspects were charged with bias crimes or hate crimes in state court. But Prozanski said he is working on potential legislation to change that through sentencing enhancement for biased or organized crimes that target a specific community.

That could allow prosecutors to provide evidence showing that crimes were done in light of those factors. A court would then be able to enhance the criminal penalty, he said.

“That’s really what I think everyone’s asking for, right? You don’t need a new law that says ‘organized crime committing burglaries,’” he told the Capital Chronicle. “I want it to be much holistic in the sense of where any type of situation that you could tie organized crime to, or you could tie bias and hate to, could be used at the time of sentencing.”

By avoiding the appearance of creating a new crime, Prozanski may be able to avoid the ire of left-leaning criminal justice reform advocates and academics who largely oppose stricter criminal penalties as a legislative solution. They fought for a landmark 2021 state law which informed Flynn’s guidelines by seeking to reduce the state’s reliance on cash bail and shifting to a risk-based, individualized approach to pretrial release decisions.

It’s a similar experience facing local Asian American community leaders, who also fear the weaponization of the crimes for a broader anti-immigrant agenda.

After community pressure, Oregon governor approves extradition of suspect in Eugene-area anti-Asian burglaries

Jensina Hawkins, vice president of the Asian American Council of Oregon and former chair of the Eugene Police Commission, said she has noticed politicians running for office offer various levels of engagement with her community’s concerns, from merely photo ops to engaging with them throughout the legislative process.

She said she has also been asked if she is glad federal immigration authorities have been around to detain the suspects. Her response?

“No, that’s not where we were trying to take the narrative.”

A federal judge sentenced four of the individuals in the burglary ring to federal prison on Tuesday. Three of them remain at large. The FBI has posted their names and information and is asking the public to contact them with any tips.

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News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/07/10/oregon-public-safety-law-asian-american-burglaries/