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The Portland City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to send $150,000 in city money to an organization that provides legal resources to immigrants and refugees as U.S. Immigrations and Custom Enforcement activity in Portland remains elevated, with disturbing accounts of arrests regularly surfacing.
The money will go to SOAR Immigration Legal Services, a program by the Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon that the city already funds.
Councilor Elana Pirtle-Guiney, the chief sponsor of the legislation, said that a city panel called the New Portlanders Policy Commission, which advises the council on immigration-related policy, had recommended the funding package for SOAR.
The money will be taken from the city’s Legal Priorities Reserve Fund, a fund that, as its name suggests, provides a pot of money to the city for unexpected legal expenses.
The council shot down a suggested amendment by City Councilor Candace Avalos that would’ve increased the allocation to $300,000 and spread the amount evenly among three providers instead of just one.
City Attorney Robert Taylor told the council that decreasing the Legal Priorities Reserve Fund by $300,000 caused him concern, a warning that seemed to persuade most councilors. Still, despite the ordinance and the amendment being clear, the discussion among councilors once again devolved into arguments about process.
Pirtle-Guiney said in a comment directed at Avalos that she was “again frustrated by the lack of professionalism and respect in this body” because she only saw the written amendment posted online Wednesday morning “despite my offering on the dais to be a partner in finding an additional funding source to move forward.”
Avalos in turn said she was “confused” by Pirtle-Guiney’s surprise, given that she had made her intent to bring an amendment forward clear last week. Avalos also took the opportunity to air her own grievances about process, saying she has often been surprised by last-minute amendments brought forth by colleagues.
“It’s not a courtesy I’ve received throughout this body, and I’m not even going to—and I don’t even need to drop that tea, but if we’re going to talk about consistency, maybe let’s evaluate that,” Avalos said.
There was also confusion about what, exactly, the New Portlanders Policy Commission had officially supported.
Avalos stated at the meeting that her amendment had been endorsed by the NPPC. Upon questioning by Pirtle-Guiney, Avalos subsequently explained that she had spoken to the chair of the NPPC and another member, Jorge Sanchez Bautista, who she said had endorsed her amendment. (Sanchez Bautista is a Portland State University student who narrowly lost a bid for Portland School Board last year.) After another member of the commission named Kerri Babin, who was present at the council meeting, said that in fact NPPC had not officially endorsed the amendment nor had they even discussed it as a body, Avalos tried to clarify.
“When I said that the NPCC endorsed it, I talked with Jorge and I talked with the chair. We discussed the amendment, and they said that they agreed with it and were supportive,” Avalos said. “I spoke with Jorge and the chair and that’s who I got to support my amendment.”
Babin chimed in again. This time, Babin said she’d messaged the chair about Avalos’ statement and that the chair “said that she’s not spoke with Councilor Avalos or Councilor Avalos’ office and has not endorsed or supported the amendment.”
“I hope that we’re being represented fairly as a commission for what we have done,” Babin said.
Avalos re-explained, this time saying she had only spoken to Sanchez Buatista. “I talked to Jorge, who talked to his chair, and we discussed the amendment, and they agreed with how the amendment was written,” Avalos said.
(The NPCC lists two co-chairs, Maritza Kritz and Sahar Wilson, and it’s not clear to which of them Avalos or Babin was referring.)
Avalos’ amendment failed by a 7-5 vote, and then the underlying ordinance passed by a unanimous vote.
