FEDERAL JUDGE ORDERS ASYLUM SEEKER’S IMMEDIATE RELEASE: U.S. District Court Judge Amy Baggio ordered the immediate release of a Mexican asylum seeker from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Tacoma on July 14. The asylum seeker, a transgender woman who is only identified by the initials O-J-M, fled Mexico after suffering a cartel kidnapping and sexual assault based on her gender and perceived sexual orientation. She was the first known petitioner in Oregon arrested outside Portland Immigration Court, where she was attending an asylum hearing June 2. In a string of questioning, Baggio made a series of damning assertions that the U.S. government had acted out of accordance with due process, misleading O-J-M at the June 2 hearing, and denying her access to her counsel at various points during her detention. Counsel for the U.S. government, including assistant attorney Ariana Garousi, conceded that there had been procedural errors with how O-J-M was detained and treated afterward, and Baggio concluded O-J-M had been “actively misinformed.” At the June hearing, the immigration judge had convinced O-J-M to dismiss her removal proceedings after telling her it would dissuade the federal government from removing her back to Mexico. “That just wasn’t true, was it?” Baggio asked Garousi, who stumbled through many of her answers back to the judge. Garousi also admitted the attorney for the Department of Homeland Security, present during the June 2 hearing, was aware that there were four ICE agents positioned to arrest O-J-M right outside. “The government here failed to follow its own rules,” Baggio said. “They arrested first, they sought to justify later, and then they changed the alleged basis for the detention.” Lawyers for O-J-M, part of the Innovation Law Lab, said they were relieved by Baggio’s ruling. “Her arrest was really re-traumatizing her as someone who’s been a victim of assault,” said attorney Jordan Cunnings. “We’re really grateful this will be her last day.”
BUFFETT BUYS INTO THE BASEMENT: Who’s crazy enough to buy an apartment building in Portland, where renter protections are among the toughest in the nation and many city councilors are skeptical about capitalism? Warren Buffett, the billionaire Oracle of Omaha, that’s who. An entity controlled by Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate paid $88 million for the 265-unit Peloton Apartments on North Williams Avenue between North Mason and Skidmore streets, according to public records. Including the Peloton, Berkshire Hathaway owns three apartment buildings in Portland, according to its website. Buffett, 94, made his fortune by purchasing assets at bargain prices. His investment mantra is “Be fearful when others are greedy and be greedy only when others are fearful.” Portland fits that strategy right now. Office vacancies downtown are running at about 30%. Both Intel and Nike are slashing payrolls, and Oregon Health & Science University faces huge cuts in research funding from the National Institutes of Health. In an email to constituents last month, City Councilor Dan Ryan said he’s concerned about the anti-market economy rhetoric from some of his colleagues. Among questions he’s been asking them: “Is Portland the testing site to eliminate capitalism in favor of socialism?” Buffett, for one, seems to think it’s not.
WHEELS OF JUSTICE GRIND SLOWLY: A dispute over the May election for the Umpqua Public Transportation District board remains unresolved and will continue to be so through the board’s next scheduled meeting on July 21. As the Oregon Journalism Project reported, Todd Vaughn, an incumbent member of the district, and CEO Ben Edtl are contesting Vaughn’s apparent loss to challenger Natasha Atkinson (“Bus Project,” OJP, July 9). Vaughn filed a petition in Douglas County Circuit Court on June 24 seeking judicial review of the result; Douglas County Clerk Dan Loomis filed a response July 2 defending the process and outcome of the election. But any resolution may be a long way off: The court responded July 11 by saying it had trial dates available but not before January. Edtl says it’s unclear whether Vaughn will be seated at the July 21 meeting or how the board will handle the disputed result. “We are trying to figure out what to do,” Edtl says. “But I know this: there are going to be fireworks.”
FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION: WW took home nine prizes at the AAN Awards, a national contest recognizing the best work by alternative news media in 2024. Among our honors: the Jim Ridley Award for outstanding arts criticism, a first prize won by Andrew Jankowski for his review of Triangle Productions’ staging of Little Shop of Horrors (“Season’s Bleedings,” WW, Dec. 3, 2024). WW also scored second prizes for Anthony Effinger’s explanatory reporting on graffiti, Sophie Peel’s beat reporting on donation swapping in voter-owned elections, and our 50th anniversary issue edited by Audrey Van Buskirk and Chris Lydgate. “This is outstanding watchdog reporting,” a judge said of Peel’s stories. “Answered so many questions, even some I hadn’t thought of myself as I was reading,” another said of Effinger’s work. Nigel Jaquiss, now with the Oregon Journalism Project, received second place in a new category, the AAN Excellence in Journalism Award, for his story on the unintended consequences of Oregon’s Bottle Bill (“House of Cans,” WW, Feb. 7, 2024).