Portland-Area County Launches ‘Sanctuary Fund’ Providing Taxpayer-Funded Grants To Assist Illegal Immigrants

The Oregon county that includes the city of Portland is shelling out $75,000 in taxpayer money through a new "Sanctuary Fund" program designed to help left-wing groups that assist illegal immigrants.

The Multnomah Sanctuary Fund was launched Thursday and will award grants ranging from $2,000 to $10,000 to "community-based organizations that work with underserved culturally specific populations affected by immigration enforcement." The money can be used for services such as "legal aid, utility/rental assistance, child care, case management, healthcare, and related needs." It will prioritize "equitable distribution across diverse linguistic, ethnic and cultural communities."

The grant program was included in a $250,000 package that the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved in December "to strengthen the County's sanctuary commitment." It also received $226,000 from the Metro Council, Oregon's regional government, bringing the total taxpayer dollars used to counter federal immigration enforcement efforts to $476,000.

The Multnomah County initiatives are just the latest example of taxpayer dollars being used to impede federal immigration enforcement. For instance, the Legal Rights Center, a Minnesota nonprofit that receives roughly two thirds of its revenue from government grants, has been supporting a bail fund that's helping free anti-ICE agitators and illegal immigrants detained in Minneapolis. Another example is the Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition, a nonprofit largely funded by taxpayers, which operates an "ICE Watch Hotline."

Oregon's status as a sanctuary state, with laws prohibiting local authorities from honoring ICE detainers, already put it on the Trump administration's radar. Federal immigration agents arrested roughly 1,100 individuals in Oregon last year—nearly 10 times the number recorded during the final year of the Biden administration, according to the Portland Tribune. Portland has also been home to anti-ICE protests and unrest since June.

Of the funding the Multnomah County commissioners approved, $175,000 will be split between three organizations. Multnomah Public Defenders and Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon—a progressive church-affiliated nonprofit that "recognizes that true equity requires racial and economic justice" and emphasizes the "decolonization of land and resources"—will each receive $60,000. The Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization will receive $55,000 to provide immigration legal services and "tenant defense."

Funding from the Metro Council, meanwhile, was earmarked for "rent assistance for families affected by immigration enforcement." The entire pot will go to Bienestar de la Familia, a county program that "prioritizes Latino/a/x community and also serves Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) communities."

The initiatives follow an emergency declaration that county chair Jessica Vega Pederson (D.) issued earlier in December over "the deleterious effects of the federal government's callous and heavy-handed approach to immigration enforcement." In a Thursday newsletter, Pederson said she hoped the funding could "restore a sense of safety and stability."

"Because each and every act of terror enacted on our neighbors is an assault against our entire community," she wrote.

Multnomah County did not respond to a request for comment.

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