Oregon Seeks To Join Washington Suit Against Trump Administration

Citing the ways that Oregon would be harmed if President Trump's executive order limiting the ability of seven predominantly Muslim countries to enter the United States, the state has filed papers seeking to join a lawsuit brought by the State of Washington.

The state cites four categories in which Oregon will be harmed.

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"First, Oregon's own finances will suffer if the unlawful immigration ban is enforced," Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum's filing said. "First, Oregon’s own finances will suffer if the unlawful immigration ban is enforced. Of Oregon’s $92 billion investment portfolio, more than 19 million shares are held in technology companies who have expressed alarm at the likely impacts of the Executive Order on their businesses.

The state's educational institutions would also be affected by the implementation of the order, according to the state. Oregon has seven state universities, 17 community colleges and more than a dozen private schools.

"Hundreds of students and professors at those universities and colleges are from one of the seven countries covered by the Muslim travel ban," according to the filing. "As a result, the work of those colleges is adversely affected by the ban.

"For example, of the 3,016 international students currently studying at the University of Oregon (“UO”), a public research university, 38 are citizens of the seven affected
countries, and are here on valid student visas. International students typically pay substantially more than in-state students, providing more than $100 million in tuition each year, in total."

Portland State University will also be affected with 59 students who are citizens of countries covered in the executive order.

The state says that the school's research is also being affected.

PSU has a researcher who is an Iranian national doing work on water resources engineering being funded by a university in Finland. The researcher had gone to Finland for winter break and had planned to return to Portland on Jan.27. He has not returned to Portland and it's not clear if he'll be able to.

Oregon State University had 165 students from the affected countries. Several other Oregon schools would also lose students and their tuition.

The state says that Oregon has several volunteer organizations dedicated to helping immigrants that would likely see layoffs as a result of a loss of federal funding. That would result in a loss of tax revenue for the state.

Finally, Rosenblum's office cites the potential harm to the state's health care system.

Six medical residents at Oregon Health & Science University are from the affected the countries.

"Those residents perform critically needed medical care in a
variety of fields," according to the filing. "If they were prevented from returning to the United States after a trip abroad, or if they left the country due to the effects of the Executive Order, OHSU likely would not be able to replace them.

"As a result, OHSU would lack the necessary work force to provide the services currently provided by those Residents."

While the Trump administration has said they plan to rewrite the executive order, they are also continuing to pursue the case in court.

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