What Happens When I Report a Suspected Sanctuary Promise Violation?
There are three ways that a person can report a suspected sanctuary law violation to Oregon Department of Justice:
- Call Monday-Friday from 9am-5pm to speak with a live Hotline Advocate (you may reach our voicemail if our advocates are on other calls);
- Call after hours and leave a voicemail message; or
- Report online through our website.
Live Hotline Advocate
Hotline advocates are trauma-informed, trained in crisis intervention, and provide advocacy. You may choose what information to share with us on the hotline. A live hotline advocate will generally follow this process in our interaction with you:
Welcome: The hotline advocate will share their first name.
Interpreter and accessibility Needs: The hotline advocate will inquire if you have any accessibility needs in order to communicate with our team. (E.g.- interpretation, translation, large print, or other communication needs.) For language access, our hotline advocates speak multiple languages, and we have access to interpreters in over 240 languages via Language Link.
Informed consent: The hotline advocate will review our informed consent information to let you know what we do on the hotline. Below is a list:
- Mandatory Reporting – We are mandatory reporters according to ORS 419B.010 », ORS 124.060 », ORS 430.735 », and ORS 441.630 ». If you share information about child abuse, elder abuse, or abuse of a disabled individual or vulnerable adult, we are required to make a report with any and all information we know to the Statewide Mandatory Report Abuse Hotline.
- Information Collection – We collect data (information) on the hotline. ORS 181A.827 » requires that Oregon DOJ determine if we can open an investigation on the violating state or local government agency based on your report. If you personally were targeted in the violation, your name will be not be public, but it will be used as the ODOJ investigator investigates the violating government agency, including contact with the violating agency and with the Criminal Justice Commission (CJC). If you are reporting a violation regarding someone else, your name will not be public, and your name will not be shared as the ODOJ investigator investigates the violating government agency. In addition, we are required to report on de-identified information (information like the victim’s county, race, the name of the offending government office, and other general information that does not reveal your or the victim’s identity) with the CJC and the public. We will not share your name, phone number, email address, physical address, or any other details that could identify you in these reports. You may request that the hotline not collect information about your report; we will still provide you support and referral services on the hotline, but this may impact our ability to open an investigation.
- Attorney/Client Representation – We will ask you if you or the person who was victim of the suspected sanctuary violation has an attorney. Hotline advocates cannot interfere with attorney-client relationships according to the Oregon Rules of Professional Conduct » and ORS 40.225 », and we will be required to request permission from your attorney to continue to speak with you.
- Limitations – The Sanctuary Promise Line is a victim support and information and referral hotline. We refer and connect victims and witnesses to existing community and government resources upon request for ongoing support. Although ODOJ may open an investigation into reported possible sanctuary promise law violations, hotline advocates do not control the outcome of ODOJ investigations. We will support you as you navigate the investigation process.
You can share what happened: The advocate will listen, and you can share as much or as little information about what you experienced or witnessed; it’s your choice. You do not have to share information like your name, your location, or the name of the violating government agency, but the advocate may ask you questions if it helps us respond better to you on the hotline, or to connect you with some potential resources and/or support options in your community, or to open a ODOJ investigation. It is your choice if you want to share this information with us or not.
Questions: Because ODOJ has been instructed to open investigations into government offices that are violating Oregon’s Sanctuary Promise laws, the hotline advocate may ask you some specific questions. These may include:
- What federal immigration authority was involved with the violation?
- What state or local agency was involved with the violation?
- What is the name, role, and contact information, if you know it, of the state or local government employee who violated Oregon’s sanctuary laws?
- What conduct did the violating agency engage in in violating Oregon’s sanctuary laws?
You may choose how much or little information you share with us.
If you do not have all of this information, we still want to hear from you, and it is okay to report.
Support: The advocate will ask if you are interested in ongoing support options with one or several of our many community partner agencies.
Resources: The advocate will ask if you are interested in or in need of resources including assistance with basic needs or emergency services, and look to connect you with those resources.
Safety: The advocate will ask you about safety, and work with you to brainstorm options for you to make a plan for your and your family’s physical and emotional safety.
Feedback: The advocate may ask if you feel like you know more about resources, if we’ve helped you to make informed choices that you fully understand, if you have new ideas about staying safe, and/or if you feel you’ve been treated with dignity and respect on the call today.
Follow-up: The advocate may ask about follow-up to see if we can check in with you in a few days/next week/at a later date. If you are the targeted person in the sanctuary law violation, we may make a plan to connect about meeting the ODOJ investigator.
Hotline Voicemail
Sometimes people do not wish for a call back. It is okay if you want to just report the incident through our voicemail system. You may speak in your preferred language—please just let us know what language you are speaking. Below is a list of information to share with us so we can make sure it is documented correctly and refer it for a possible ODOJ investigation; we do not have to call you back. If you do request a call back, a hotline advocate will call you back as soon as possible, sometimes the following business day.
- Your name (optional)
- The name of the person who was targeted in violation of Oregon’s sanctuary laws
- Your phone number, including area code (optional)
- Your location (town or county is fine)
- What times it’s best to reach you (e.g.- it’s best to call me Tuesdays after 1pm, or you can give us an exact date and time)
- A quick description of what you experienced or witnessed that you believe to be in violation of Oregon’s sanctuary laws
- The name of the state or local government agency where the suspected violation took place
- The name of the federal immigration authority involved in the violation, if any or if known
Making a Report Online
Our Online Reporting Web Portal form is readily available (by using the drop-down menu in the upper right-hand corner of the website) in 9 languages: English, Spanish, Korean, Russian, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Somali, Arabic, and Ukranian.*
If you choose to report online through our web portal, you will be asked for the following information:
- Targeted person’s name and date of birth
- If the targeted person is in custody and where
- If the targeted person has an attorney and who that person is
- When the sanctuary promise violation occurred
- A description of the suspected sanctuary promise violation
- What state or local government agency violated the sanctuary promise law
- City in Oregon where the violation occurred
- Name and title of government employee or police officer who violated, if known
- Which federal immigration authority engaged with the state/local government agency, if known
- If you would like a call back from the Sanctuary Promise Hotline
- If you would like a referral to a community partner agency
- Who the reporter (the person filling out the form) is in relation to the violation (victim, witness, concerned community member, etc.)
- Your name and contact information (optional)
- Your preferred language
You can choose if you want the Sanctuary Promise Hotline to contact you back.
*You can request for the online reporting web portal form to be translated into any additional language by calling 1-844-924-STAY (1-844-924-7829) or emailing us (this email account is only for translation requests; sanctuary violation reports submitted to this account will not be answered).