The Oregon House on Monday passed legislation that would prevent landlords from asking about tenants’ immigration status.
The state lawmakers voted 36-15 in favor of the bill, which comes roughly two months after the state Senate did the same.
“For too long, our immigrant communities have lived under a cloud of uncertainty and fear,” state Rep. Lesly Muñoz (D) said in a statement on the bill. “Today, we take a powerful step forward to ensure safe, stable housing is accessible to all Oregonians — regardless of their background.”
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek (D) will now decide whether the bill should be signed into law, vetoed or approved without her signature. Washington, California, New York and Illinois currently have a similar law preventing residents’ legal status from serving as a barrier to housing.
In 1987, the Beaver State was the first to initiate protections for immigrants by passing a sanctuary city law, formally preventing state and local law enforcement from cooperating with removal efforts led by federal immigration authorities.
However, the Trump administration has sought to punish elected officials perceived to be interfering with U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations.
“[Attorney General] Pam Bondi has made it clear, and so has our president, that we are to take all criminals, violent criminals and criminals out of this country and to completely enforce federal law,” Alina Habba, the acting U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, said during an April appearance on Fox News’s “Hannity.”
“And anybody who does get in that way in the way of what we are doing — which is not political, it is simply against crime — will be charged in the state of New Jersey for obstruction, for concealment. And I will come after hard,” she added.
Other Trump administration officials have pledged to follow suit.
Tensions have already been high between lawmakers and the administration following a protest outside of an ICE facility in New Jersey. Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver (N.J.) is facing a federal assault charge after agents accused her of shoving them during the incident.
Democrats have defended McIver, blasting President Trump and the White House for their efforts to crack down on immigration.
