Oregon launches multi-agency effort to protect state’s immigrants and refugees

Last month, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek signed an executive order creating an interagency council to better support immigrants and refugees in the state. According to the Oregon Department of Human Services, there are more than 400,000 immigrants in Oregon, making up nearly 10% of the state’s population and nearly 13% of the state’s workforce.

The Office of Immigrant and Refugee Advancement at ODHS is leading this new effort, which aims to boost coordination and communication between multiple state agencies amid the toll heightened immigration enforcement is taking on communities and the state services they rely on.

According to OIRA director Jessica Ventura, the council had its first meeting last week and aims to deliver a plan by late spring that identifies how to align and boost state programs to support immigrants and refugees while upholding the state’s sanctuary law. Gov. Kotek and Ventura join us for more details about the Interagency Council for Immigrant and Refugee Coordination and to share what they’ve been hearing from dozens of community partners who advocate on behalf of these vulnerable Oregonians.

Note: The following transcript was transcribed digitally and validated for accuracy, readability and formatting by an OPB volunteer.

Dave Miller: This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I’m Dave Miller. Last month, Oregon Governor Tina Kotek signed an executive order creating an interagency council to better support the more than 400,000 immigrants and refugees in the state. That’s nearly 10% of the state’s population and nearly 13% of the workforce. The Office of Immigrant and Refugee Advancement is leading this new effort, which comes at a time of heightened and militarized federal immigration enforcement. Jessica Ventura is the director of that office. She and Governor Tina Kotek both join me now. It’s great to have both of you on Think Out Loud.

Gov. Tina Kotek: Thanks, Dave. Thanks for having us.

Miller: Governor Kotek, first – why did you create this new interagency council?

Kotek: Well, here’s what I know from experiencing a year plus of the Trump administration. State government has to be at the top of its game, has to be coordinated, has to be organized. And we have been doing that even before the new president was sworn in, organizing ourselves, understanding what our laws are, making sure people are trained. But as we have seen increased immigration enforcement, increased chaos coming from DC, it was really clear to me that while we’ve been doing good work, we need to take it to the next level.

So the executive order allows and directs agencies to come together in a very urgent fashion. What are we doing now? What can we be doing differently? How can we be communicating with our providers and our agencies? There is so much coming at us. And if the state is going to protect our immigrant and refugee neighbors and our communities, we have to be doing more than just the basics.

This executive order takes our efforts to a much more aligned fashion. And I’m going to be waiting to see some specifics from the agencies about how we can be sharing best practices across the agencies, and how we can be communicating out to the broader public about how we are a partner in addressing these issues.

We’ve got to keep people safe. That means more communication, more alignment, more clarity for folks because this uncertainty that’s coming at us from the federal administration is nonstop.

Miller: Jessica Ventura, you’ve traveled something like 2,000 miles in the state since you started this job in the summer. Who have you been talking to?

Jessica Ventura: Thank you, Dave, for that question. Since I started back in July, my team and I have traveled, like you said, about 2,000 miles. And we’ve met with over 40 community partners. We’ve met with partners down in Southern Oregon and up and down the Willamette Valley. And from those conversations, what was so interesting about that is – and often my staff like to remind me – that when I started in July, H.R.1 was signed into law just days afterwards. So as we were traveling across the state and meeting with community partners, we were actually listening and hearing about the impacts in real time, which is what informed a lot of the information that we’re providing not only to the governor’s team, but it was also informing how we were going to approach our work with community partners during that time.

Miller: Just to be clear for folks who don’t remember, H.R.1 [is] also known officially as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. So that was one of the main things that people would talk about when you’d go around in the summer?

Ventura: That’s correct. If you remember, H.R.1 took funding right from food services and Medicaid, and transferred a lot of those funds over to immigration enforcement in the tune of about $170 billion. And so as these services were going away, immigration enforcement across Oregon was increasing. Since last fall, we saw over 1,300 arrests and those impacts were being felt in real time. The moment that somebody got arrested, especially if it was the head of household, families were losing access to funds, access to be able to provide groceries, access to food. And the fear to take kids to school, which meant kids were missing school and people didn’t want to go to public buildings or to the buildings that provide services to Oregonians every day. Just the fear was immense as we were traveling across the state.

Miller: It seems like it was sometimes both immigrants themselves, or sometimes people in service centers or people who were supporting in some way immigrants ... But let’s say that a mother or father said directly to you, “I’m afraid to send my kid to school,” how would you respond?

Ventura: I heard that very often from folks. My response to them is that I knew what they were going through. As someone who grew up undocumented and came to this country at 5 years old, I have experienced that fear. And just naming that fear is really important, because it makes things real for folks. So even just recognizing what people were going through is really what made the difference in people trusting our office. That’s really what I came back to, is how can we provide a sense of acknowledgement? And then, how can we track whatever is happening within our community?

Miller: I want to hear more about the ways in which your own experiences shape the way you approach your job now. But I’m curious, after first acknowledging that you understand the roots of their fears or anxieties, what would you say next? Is it your place to say, for example, “Nevertheless, you should send your kids to school.” Or is that not something that you would feel comfortable saying?

Ventura: Yeah, my place wasn’t necessarily to say that. My place really was just to acknowledge what was happening in our community, to take that information back to our team and see what patterns were rising from all those various conversations happening across the state, and really take that information and help inform how we were going to uplift community voice into policymaking spaces. Because that really is our role as the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Advancement, to uplift community voice into policymaking spaces, so that we are informing state agency leaders, the governor’s office, as well as the legislature about what’s happening within community in real time.

Kotek: Dave, these are just really scary times for everyone. We are rebuilding trust with families who are seeing the news, hearing the stories, knowing that people they know are being impacted. And it is a regular exercise to say, “we have to trust each other, we’re going to do the best we can.”

We’re not trying to set unrealistic expectations either. People will have to make their own choices. I just want to talk about our schools real quick. We are seeing families, especially when there’s an incident in the community, you’ll see kids stay home, families will keep their kids home for a couple of days, and then gradually come back. I cannot be more proud of our educators right now. School districts across the state are mobilizing, they’re trying to help families. They’re trying to be that trusting adult in the community for those students to say, “hey, it’s safe, we will do everything we can to keep you safe in your school, please come in.” Trying to get homework to kids who might not come in or get food to those families who cannot work. People have mobilized to make sure students, young people are impacted the least.

But it is so traumatizing. It is scaring everyone. And there’s no simple answer here. But all we can do is take care of each other as neighbors to neighbors and know what the issues are by talking to the people impacted, like Jessica has said. And then just try to do what we can, as Oregonians, to help each other.

Miller: What do you think the state’s role is in simply this education piece? Because what you were talking about there, there’s different valences of action, whether it’s at the district level or at the community level. I’m curious what you see you could do?

Kotek: We have, for example, a bill that legislators have put forward to requiring districts to provide more information. I think some of that is happening right now to educate, make sure that parents know what is going on when there is particularly an incident around a school.

Let’s stop a second. Under this administration, places that you would never think that there would be enforcement activities happening are now, nothing is off limits – they’re in schools, they’re outside childcare facilities, they’re in hospital parking lots. This is a brand new world. So what we have to do is understand the situation, build new training and communication tools so everyone can understand what’s going on, and helping, for example, our educators know what the rights of their students and their parents are, what we could be doing to educate them.

We’ve been doing some of that. We have to do more of it. We have to get community groups into our schools so they can also be trusted messengers to these families in their own culture, in their own language. This is an all-hands-on-deck approach because everything is coming at everybody all the time.

Miller: Jessica Ventura, I’m curious what kinds of specific fears you’ve heard from people who do have some kind of legal status, whether that means a Green Card, permanent residency, or a work visa or refugee status?

Ventura: What we have primarily seen and heard from community organizations, and all the different partners that we talked to, is that because of what we’ve seen in Minnesota and other parts of the country, nobody is really off the table, that nobody is necessarily safe. So, because of that, whether you’re undocumented or documented, or came to the U.S. through legal pathways, the fear that that legal protection will go away is still very much present in our communities here in Oregon, especially because of everything that’s been happening in Minnesota. So the fear of whether or not I’m legal here, I have to carry documentation – something that we often haven’t had to do in the past – whether or not that documentation will be taken seriously, it just adds to that fear, whether you’re undocumented or documented.

Miller: Have you heard of refugee cases in Oregon being reopened or the administration trying to claw back legal status?

Ventura: Up until this point, I have not necessarily heard of that. But it is something that we’re trying to communicate clearly with our partners. We’re in close conversations with them as often as we can be.

Kotek: It’s an important point, Dave, that because of what I would call racial profiling by the federal administration, Black, Indigenous, Brown, anybody who looks a certain way, are targets regardless of what their status is. Let’s talk about the Venezuelan national family, the mom, dad and their child who were stopped in the hospital parking lot in Portland. They were here via asylee status in a legal pathway. And yet they were picked up. Thankfully, they are back home in Oregon after they were detained and sent to the Texas facility.

It’s really important for Oregonians to understand this: This isn’t just somebody else’s problem, this is everyone’s problem. Because everybody who looks a certain way, in the Trump administration, is a target.

Miller: I should say, for folks who want to hear more about that story, we did talk to Representative Maxine Dexter last week, as well as our reporter Holly Bartholomew who’s talked to family members of that family.

Governor, Jessica mentioned what happened in Minnesota. I’m curious what specific lessons you took from that turmoil, including two killings of U.S. citizens by immigration enforcement officials?

Kotek: What we have seen in the last couple of months is we have had open communication and dialogue with our community leaders and organizations that are serving impacted communities, who are targets of increased, I would argue, unlawful immigration enforcement. I just want to go back to centering their voices. Because everybody sees the national news. There’s been this heightened interest in us doing more in Oregon to not become a situation like in Minnesota. That’s why we’ve pushed against the National Guard being on the streets of Portland.

What I saw also is that we have federal agents who are not appropriately trained – that is a dangerous situation for individuals. So one of the things that we need to understand is safety is a paramount issue. How do we keep people safe in these interactions? Knowing what your rights are, knowing how to respond appropriately in different settings is even more important than it was before. The woman who was pulled over in Salem a couple of weeks ago, a citizen taken out of her car, suffered a concussion, and then was just left by federal agents because they realized after seeing her passport that they didn’t have to be with this person. Minnesota brought it to another level. That is happening today, that kind of unlawful behavior that is impacting people physically, mentally, in communities across the state.

Miller: Last month, “NBC News” quoted an anonymous former White House official who said that Oregon was next in line for a large-scale immigration enforcement operation. Were you ever able to corroborate that?

Kotek: I was not, but everything’s a wake-up call. Who knows when we’re going to see something on social from the president? So that’s why this executive order is important. Everyone’s on heightened alert. Everyone is dedicating more time to the conversation. We are exploring new ways to be responsive, to try to be proactive, to get ahead of the issue. And as Jessica’s team has done, we are hearing directly from communities, like, “we could use this, we could use that.” And there will be a feedback loop to those community organizations to make sure we actually are putting the right solutions on the table.

Miller: So Jessica, your council, as I understand it – and please correct me if this is wrong – you’re tasked with improving, among other things, coordination and communication between different agencies to better support immigrants and refugees. What exactly is that going to look like in practice? What’s going to be different?

Ventura: Thank you for that question. The Council on Immigrant and Refugee Coordination was established by the governor through the executive order, and it was really meant to strengthen cross-agency coordination in response to increased federal immigration enforcement activity. The council is advisory to the governor and is focused on internal alignment. So it doesn’t necessarily change agency authority. It doesn’t issue new policies or address individual cases. The goal here is to make sure that state agencies are aligned in the way that we’re communicating with community partners. We know that when immigration enforcement picks up and impacts families, families don’t turn to government agencies first. They really turn to community partners.

Our goal here is to reduce any harm by making sure that state agencies are communicating in alignment, and that we’re not adding to that fear and that we’re actually being helpful to community partners as they’re serving families that are being impacted.

Miller: As you mentioned briefly earlier, Jessica, you grew up undocumented in North Portland. My understanding is that you crossed the U.S.-Mexico border with your mom when you were 5. You grew up in Portland and became a U.S. citizen at the age of 21. What are the ways in which your experiences have shaped the way you do your work today?

Ventura: I was just telling the governor right before we got on that this is one of my biggest privileges to lead this office and to work with her and her team during this time. I would say that my experience growing up undocumented and crossing the border when I was 5 definitely makes my public service personal. I grew up undocumented in North Portland. I have firsthand experience with the fear that our immigrant and refugee communities are currently living with. I know what it’s like to wonder if anyone from your household would be at home after school and whether or not family members were going to be taken away.

So that experience definitely shapes how I lead today. It’s definitely pushed me towards work where I could help make systems clearer and more responsive to all Oregonians really, but now specifically for immigrant and refugee communities.

Miller: When you became a naturalized U.S. citizen at the age of 21, did you feel that that was more final than you feel now? Have all the efforts of the Trump administration this second time around, including things like trying to get rid of birthright citizenship, changed the way you think about your own citizenship?

Ventura: That’s a great question. This is what I’ll say … When I turned 21 and decided to dedicate my life to public service, I knew right away that that’s what I wanted to do with my life and my career. So every single position that I’ve had within state government has been dedicated to improving the lives of all Oregonians, with an equity lens applied to that process.

I’m human. Obviously, there’s fear about whether or not I’m a target. That is just the human of the situation and who I am as a person. But my focus right now is to make sure that that career that I’ve had is in service to something bigger right now, because that’s what our communities need. And my focus is going to be how does this office support the governor in making sure that immigrant and refugee communities are safe, and that all Oregonians keep their trust and their ability to access everyday services that our agencies provide. So that is going to be my goal moving forward. And again, like I said earlier, it’s just my biggest privilege to be serving in this role under Governor Tina Kotek.

Miller: Governor Kotek, are Oregon agencies, whether we’re talking about voting or Department of Human Services – agencies that have access to sensitive data about all of us, about Oregonians – acting in such a way right now that they’re essentially assuming that the federal government might try to get access to their data or might actively be snooping on them?

Kotek: I think we all have a different appreciation of the data we collect and how it is being used, yes. When the federal government is trying, for example, to get access to data related to the SNAP programs – the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – people who sign up for help don’t expect their personal data is going to be shared in a way that will come back to hurt them. We would not have assumed that until this administration. We are having to rethink everything we do because we have tried some data integration and data transparency, because more of that actually helps us be more efficient and more effective. We are having to rethink what we collect, how we share it. And we are fighting back with the attorney general every time the Trump administration says “give us this little piece of data.” And we say, “Why? What are you going to use it for? That’s not the right role for this.”

We will keep pushing back in every lawful mean we have to make sure that people’s data is protected so they can get what they need. The federal government will have to do what it has to do. But this data was not collected for enforcement purposes. It was meant to make sure people could get services, and that’s where our focus is.

Miller: Governor, before we say goodbye, ultimately nobody at the state level – including you, the most powerful elected official in the state – can guarantee the safety of immigrants, refugees or citizens from actions that the federal government might take. I’m just curious, at the most base level, how you think about the actual levers of your power and the limits of your power?

Kotek: We’re a democracy. Power comes from the people. And the fact that people are working together in alignment in unison, whether it’s in your neighborhood, whether it’s our state government working together better, we’re going to do everything we can to push back. There are no guarantees. This world we’re living in lacks a lot of things, and guarantees are not really happening right now. So we’re all gonna work together to keep each other safe.

Jessica, you’re in the middle of state government. How are you feeling about this?

Ventura: Well, I appreciate that. One of the ways that I think about this is that federal policy will continue to evolve. And like the governor just said, our responsibility in Oregon is to respond with coordination and clarity so that families and communities experience steadiness instead of that confusion.

Miller: Jessica Ventura and Tina Kotek, thanks very much.

Ventura: Thank you.

Miller: Jessica Ventura is the director of Oregon’s Office of Immigrant and Refugee Advancement. Tina Kotek is the governor of Oregon.

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