Media blows up $15M illegal migrant legal fund scandal

By Taxpayers Association of Oregon
OregonWatchdog.com

The front page Sunday Oregonian again blows the whistle on another government program with no accountability and costing taxpayers millions.

This time it is a the $15 million of tax dollars for the Equity Corps of Oregon to give free legal aid to illegal-status migrants in Oregon.

The Oregonian states, “Equity Corps of Oregon has not disclosed a comprehensive tally of how many immigrants facing deportation actually received legal representation through the statewide program and how many avoided deportations as a result. Similar programs in other states readily publish such statistics, saying it’s vital to ensure accountability and build public trust.”

The Oregonian also criticizes the program for:

(1) not properly being advertised so migrants could use it
(2) inexcusable delays resulting in expected lost cases
(3) faulty hotline and
(4) abysmal oversight.
(5) progressive non-profits have left this program over these issues.

Now, Governor Tina Kotek wants to reward the botched program with a bonus $7 million.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the Taxpayers Association of Oregon has concerns over the “universal” guarantee aspect of the program.

State Representative Andrea Valderrama, (D-Portland) said Equity Corp. would “empower Oregon to lead the way by ensuring that every immigrant Oregonian has access to universal legal representation through a statewide system.”

This “universal legal representation” is a cause for concern.

(1) Universal guarantees invites migrants from other states and overwhelms the system. By announcing “universal legal” aid for every migrant sends the message to the whole nation for illegal migrants to move to Oregon where they can get free guaranteed legal help to the tune of thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars. Already, California was sending migrants to Oregon to take advantage of our free migrant hotel services (which overloaded the program and caused it to shut down).    Multnomah County’s 2018 homeless shelter guarantee attracted homeless people from outside the area and for which overloaded the program and caused it to be shut-down.    Oregon liberals simply feel compelled to make every benefit program a human right and guarantee.

(2) Universal guarantees combined with more free services also greatly contributes to drawing out-of-state illegal migrants which overwhelms the system.  The State of Oregon paid $29 million in tax dollars to convert an airport hotel into a welcome center for unvetted illegal border crossers.  Oregon’s Direct Cash Transfer Plus program gives unrestricted $1,000 monthly payments to homeless young migrants.   Oregon temporarily offered free $30,000 housing stipends for non-citizen migrants.    Combined free universal legal aid with increased programs not offered in other states and you will get more takers who end up overwhelming the system.   How long can Oregon afford to subsidize the illegal migrants from the other 49 states?

(3) Universal guarantee pledges are at risk of giving legal aid to criminals.   When you offer universal legal aid to everyone, you are also offering it to those who have a criminal record, who are gang members, and who are part of international drug cartels.   Oregon towns like Seaside, Portland, Hillsboro, Oregon City, and Hood River are key cities involving international crime cartels. We found nothing in Equity Corps of Oregon’s explanation documents that exclude criminals from their services.  Even if they did, they are handicapped to vet criminal records from other nations 6,000 miles away.  It begs the question; how many of the $15 million of Oregon tax dollars have been spent assisting migrants who have a criminal record?

(4) Universal guarantee pledges works against prioritization and ends up causing both the high priority and low priority cases to be un-served.   Is a valedictorian from Oregon State University who is an expert in medicine, but overstayed their travel visa because of civil strife in their home country the same as an unskilled person who just arrived and spent the entire year not working and using government services?

(5) Does the work with Federal efforts or against? which may determine whether this is illegal.  President Trump signed an Executive Order ending taxpayer subsidization of open borders on February 19th, 2025.   Oregon should make sure we are not spending taxpayers dollars on an unconstitutional program.

Finally, The Oregonian article mentions a case where an illegal migrant in Oregon said they came here because of a death threat in their own country over politics.  The person lost their case in court because the judge said their accusation could not be proven.  Such tragic scenarios are extremely difficult by nature to verify.   The person also appeared to not use the proper channel for asylum which is to first access and apply at a U.S. Embassy in their country which has better local tools to help.   We note that the Taxpayers Association of Oregon has experienced death threats over politics.  Oregon lawmakers and elected officials have experienced death threats and arson over politics.   Jewish people in Oregon have experienced death threats and bomb threats in their synagogues.  Journalist Andy Ngo experienced so many death threats (plus two hospitalizations) that he had to leave the country for safety.  Are we entitled to a legal fund?

Sadly, America’s extremely generous asylum process has been so exploited that border agents are seeing (among people trying to illegally cross) mass scripting of asylum messages where everyone has the same scripted form letter.   Once again, this causes true asylum seekers to be left out because the entire process has been overwhelmed and exploited.

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