Raul Rodriguez Hernandez with Piñeros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste, the Oregon's Farmworker Union, listens to speakers during the Day Without an Immigrant demonstration in protest of U.S. immigration policy and advocating workers’ rights in front of Oregon State Capitol Salem, Ore., on May 1, 2026, International Workers’ Day.
Eli Imadali / OPB
Oregon lawmakers passed eight immigration bills in the last legislative session that ended in March, and Gov. Tina Kotek signed them into law in April. The package of bills came as a response to a host of federal actions in 2025 that put immigrants and their families in jeopardy. Oregon was the first in the nation to become a sanctuary state in 1987 and has strengthened its protections in the intervening years. It is already illegal for law enforcement or public agencies to cooperate with federal agents without a warrant.
The new laws strengthen existing protections and establish new ones. Among other provisions, they direct schools and hospitals to create alert systems, formalizing responses to federal actions. And they protect immigrant’s data and aim to prevent employer retaliation. Isa Peña is the director of strategy at Innovation Law Lab, an immigrant rights organization that lobbied for the bills. She joins us to share more about what the laws will do and the difference they’re expected to make for immigrant communities in Oregon.
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