News After sending out a scathing statement last Thursday, a coalition of immigrant rights groups is softening its original response to Multnomah County Sheriff Dan Staton's new policy surrounding U.S. Customs and Immigration retainers.As WW first reported on March 27, Staton is planning to no longer honor federal ICE requests that he detain suspected undocumented immigrants who are brought into his jails ...   More

News Multnomah County Undersheriff Tim Moore's trip to El Paso, Texas, to a "border school and tour" hosted by an anti-immigration group cost local taxpayers $1,273.37. As WW first reported yesterday, Moore spent Sept. 21 and 22 at a training hosted by the Federation of Americans for Immigration Reform (FAIR). The sheriff's office says the trip was a training session about Mexican drug cartels, and today ...   More

News From the City of Portland's Office of Human Relations comes this heartwarming tale of an immigrant family who unwittingly exceeded Multnomah County's limits as to the number of allowable unpermitted chickens (three hens, no roosters):On May 20, 2011, a concerned Portland resident contacted Asian Family Center (AFC). This resident had a neighbor keeping too many chickens along with at least one rooster, ...   More

News It’s spring. The flowers are blooming, the sun is shining (somewhere), and once again Portland's left-leaning populace is shaking its collective fist at the man. This Sunday, May 1, the People’s Republic of Portland will be out in force to celebrate May Day, also known as International Workers’ Day, a commemoration of the mass protests in the 1880s and 1890s that brought the eight-hour day to ...   More

News City commissioners this afternoon tentatively agreed to side with Southwest Portland neighborhood activists who previously criticized the city's approval process for a proposed immigration detention facility in South Waterfront.The decision today from City Council, which heads to a formal vote next week, essentially allows the federal Department of Homeland Security to move ahead with its plans for ...   More

News Saturday won't be a leisurely day on Capitol Hill. After years of false starts and dead ends, the DREAM Act comes up for a vote again Saturday, Dec. 18 in the U.S. Senate, where advocates think the immigration bill finally stands a chance of passage. Also known as the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, the bill (first crafted in 2001) would give undocumented young people who ...   More

News Yesterday's three-hour hearing at City Hall on the proposal to build a Department of Homeland Security center [PDF] in South Waterfront ended without any clear resolution. The question before city commissioners: Is the pending Immigration and Customs Enforcement center an office, as the Department of Homeland Security contends? Or is it a detention facility, as residents in the South Waterfront ...   More

News The Spanish-language press is hot with the news that PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, is now pulling publicity stunts en Español. ¡Qué lindo! According to the website for the animal-rights group, PETA activists have sent a letter to the commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection in the hopes of striking a deal to buy new ad space at border crossings. The ...   More

News Anybody who has ever moved halfway across the country—and there are more than a few of you out here in PDX who've done just that—knows that it can be a hell of a lot of work. You've got to secure housing, find a job, figure out what's worth bringing, find a way to transport it, and then spend days driving or riding across often barren landscapes, alternating weight from one butt cheek ...   More

News Here are two segments from today's Lars Larson show on the topic of Señor Smith. Listen to Larson grill me and then Sen. Gordon Smith. And guess who he's nicer to? [Hint: Hell is currently freezing over]. [audio:http://localcut.wweek.com/mp3/BethSlovic091008.mp3] [audio:http://localcut.wweek.com/mp3/GordonSmith091008.mp3] "I am angry about this," Smith tells Lars Larson. "This goes ...   More