Oregon’s top officials are asking a federal judge to throw out a lawsuit that seeks to clarify whether Oregon counties can provide any information about people convicted of crimes to immigration officials.

The lawsuit, which was filed by Marion County in August, asks the courts to decide whether the county should follow the state’s law, or federal government’s immigration enforcement laws.

Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said in his filing to the court Monday that the question has long been resolved and that the state law takes priority. Oregon first passed the law in 1987 and has “peacefully coexisted with seven presidential administrations,” Rayfield said in a statement.

“There is no conflict between our sanctuary law and federal law,” Rayfield said.

Oregon’s sanctuary law stops state officials and local governments from helping with federal immigration enforcement — unless ordered by a federal judge. A common scenario would be U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers asking jail deputies to provide information about an inmate’s place of birth.

In the lawsuit, Marion County officials wrote to the federal judge that they worried about drawing the ire of either the state or the federal government.

They filed the lawsuit after an ICE officer sought information about people on parole with the Marion County Sheriff’s Office. The federal officer sent subpoenas asking for information about five people, four of whom were convicted of crimes ranging from rape to robbery.

The subpoenas were not signed by a federal judge. But the county argues the information federal immigration officials seek is public and would be provided to other law enforcement agencies if it weren’t for immigration enforcement.

“Marion County has gathered records responsive to the federal subpoenas,” county attorneys wrote in their lawsuit. “Marion County is prepared to either provide or withhold the requested records based on what the Court determines the law requires.”

Oregon’s statewide sanctuary law, signed into law in 1987, was the first in the nation and has been mirrored across the country. Scrutiny of those laws has been reinvigorated under the second Trump administration, which has aggressively deported immigrants across the country this year.

Trump officials, such as U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, have threatened that sanctuary jurisdictions could lose federal dollars or face criminal penalties if they don’t cooperate with immigration enforcement efforts.

In September, a dozen other counties signed a letter to support Marion County’s lawsuit. Supportive counties included Baker, Clackamas, Columbia, Crook, Deschutes, Jefferson, Klamath, Linn, Malheur, Polk, Tillamook and Union.

In the 21-page motion, Rayfield and Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek noted that counties don’t face any punishment for spurning subpoenas without a judicial signature and said the county was “speculating” that it would lose federal money if it ignored the officer’s subpoenas.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/10/21/oregon-marion-county-sanctuary-law-lawsuit-judge-settles-case/