Bonamici takes on Sessions, forest management

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Rep. Suzanne Bonamici sharply disagreed with Attorney General Jeff Sessions' stance on immigration and sanctuary cities in a live interview on KOIN 6 News at 4.

Bonamici, who is moving through her Oregon district for town halls, said Oregon "realized it is safer when we don't use local and state resources to enforce federal immigration laws. That is ICE's responsibility. We want everyone to participate in the justice system and to feel safe reporting crimes."

But she said people won't do that "if they're afraid of law enforcement. The policy in Oregon is a policy that keeps communities safer, and it is ICE's responsibility to enforce federal immigration laws."

She added, "I disagree with the Attorney General and I stand with our sheriff and others who say let ICE do the federal immigration enforcement."

The 62-year-old representative for Oregon's 1st District said she and her colleagues worked hard to get additional funds to help battle the wildfires in the Northwest.

"But also, in the long term, we need better forest management and we need to change the policy so that fighting fires is a separate account and does not come out of the current account for managing our forest."

The reason we need to have better management policies and a separate account, she said, is "because a forest fire is a disaster just like a hurricane."

So far during this wildfire season, the state of Oregon has spent about $340 million to fight them. Overall in Oregon, Washington and Idaho, about $2 billion has been spent by the US Forest Service.