Civil Rights

While the impeachment of Donald Trump was at the top of mind at Gearhart's congressional town hall Monday, U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici fielded questions about the federal deficit, foreign policy and her position on equal rights.

But overall it was the topic of civility that dominated evening, the fifth of sixth town hall events in the state.

As Democrats in the House of Representatives begin an impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump, Western Washington County residents packed the Cornelius Public Library on Wednesday, Oct. 2, to ask questions of U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici.

Multiple people asked Bonamici about the topic that has recently dominated national news: impeachment.

"We have a responsibility to hold this administration accountable," Bonamici said.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission continues to file charges and lawsuits but is not pursuing its mandate to combat discrimination as vigorously as it could because it does not have a full complement of commissioners, experts say.

Federal leaders who enforce anti-discrimination laws assured House members last week that they're still committed to protecting workers' civil rights despite lawmakers' criticism about the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's (EEOC's) decision not to collect pay data—broken down by job category, race, sex and ethnicity—in the future.

EEOC last year logged the fewest investigators to probe civil rights complaints in at least nine years, POLITICO's Rebecca Rainey reports. The investigators numbered 741 in April 2018 and averaged 758 during that fiscal year. By comparison, during the last four years of the Obama administration there was an average of 825 EEOC investigators.

Washington County resident Isidro Andrade Tafolla and the Oregon branch of the American Civil Liberties Union have filed a federal claim against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, seeking $100,000 for his humiliation, emotional distress and psychological harm after he was questioned by ICE agents in September 2017.?

The case raises troubling questions about how people of color are treated in our community. And about how "safe" a "safe haven" our courthouses are.

A Forest Grove man detained by immigration officials outside the Washington County Circuit Court in Hillsboro says he's fighting back.

Immigrant rights advocates are looking for legal and political help to prevent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from detaining people at county courthouses.

ICE has a policy that discourages enforcement actions at sensitive locations such as schools, hospitals and churches. Some in Congress, including U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley and U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici of Oregon, want to codify the policy into federal law and expand it to apply to courthouses.