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Oregon Republican Party chairman Bill Currier has filed an official complaint with the state against a Multnomah County court referee for allegedly helping an undocumented immigrant elude federal agents, party officials announced.
As WW reported in January, Monica Herranz allegedly allowed the defendant to exit her courtroom through an employee door.
The immigrant man, Diddier Pacheco-Salazar, had pleaded guilty to driving under the influence and was ultimately picked up by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials two weeks later.
He is no longer in federal custody, which may indicate he has already been deported.
U.S. Attorney Billy Williams and ICE agreed not to pursue criminal or ethics complaints against Herring or anyone else in the courtroom.
Republican party officials, however, today filed a complaint with the Oregon Commission on Judicial Fitness and Disability.
They cited a recording of the Jan. 27 hearing, also reported by WW, that suggests Herranz directed Pacheco-Salazar to leave through the side door.
"Well, we don't want him to go out there," she said.
"This looks like another example of the rampant lawlessness we've come to expect from sanctuary cities," says Currier in a statement. "But this is a bridge too far for a member of our judicial system to appear to aid and abet criminal illegal aliens and to openly attempt to subvert or obstruct federal law enforcement."
Oregon Republicans, mirroring the Trump administration, have taken a hard-line stance against undocumented immigrants.A party spokesman last month objected to Portland's efforts to create a sanctuary city, describing it as protecting "criminal illegal aliens who are murdering and raping his city's citizens"—a statement Mayor Ted Wheeler has dismissed as false.
The Commission on Judicial Fitness and Disability did not immediately return a call to confirm the receipt of the complaint. Herranz could not immediately be reached for comment.