Public defenders in two of Oregon’s largest — and politically liberal — counties are trying to change the way guilty pleas are handled, following President Donald Trump’s immigration order.
Hundreds of defense attorneys in Multnomah and Washington counties have adopted a new policy of objecting should judges inquire about their client’s citizenship status during a plea hearing.
Lane Borg, director of the Metropolitan Public Defenders, said sometimes when judges ask whether defendants understand that a criminal conviction can affect immigration status, they also ask whether a defendant is a U.S. citizen.
“But the question now that our lawyers are asking is, ‘Do you need an answer to that question?’ Or could the judge just say, ‘Do you understand convictions can affect your status if happen not to be a U.S. Citizen?’" Borg said. "That’s a different thing than saying — and our lawyers are now resisting — people being forced to put on the record ‘I am not a U.S. Citizen,’ because that’s an admission.”
Borg said Trump’s executive order has given significance to things that were once not consequential.