Oregon Lawmakers Debate Legal Aid to Immigrants as Public Defense Crisis Spirals

Legislators may appropriate $21 million to defend immigrants, as more than 5,500 criminal defendants await a court appointed attorney.

In 2023, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek signed legislation that overhauled the state's public defender services. Above, then-candidate Kotek speaks with reporters at a rally in Portland on Nov. 8, 2022. Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Images

Oregon lawmakers are considering two bills that would provide $21 million to provide free legal aid to noncitizens and illegal immigrants.

Senate Bill 703 would appropriate $6 million for nonprofits to help eligible immigrant families, such as those protected by DACA, to apply for legal status.

Separately, House Bill 2543 would allocate $15 million to replenish the Universal Representation Fund. Established in 2022 under SB 1543, the fund has already helped 6,500 immigrants in Oregon receive free legal counsel.

Meanwhile, the state faces a severe public defender crisis.

More than 5,500 criminal defendants are now waiting for a court-appointed attorney, according to the Oregon Judicial Department’s dashboard.

Some people facing criminal charges have waited months for a public defender to be appointed, including, in some cases, being held in jail without counsel, according to the Oregon Justice Resource Center.

The Due Process Argument

Oregon’s Universal Representation Fund aims to ensure that illegal immigrants receive due process.

“Unlike in criminal court, immigrants facing deportation in civil immigration court are not guaranteed access to an attorney,” Senate Democrats said when advocating for SB 1543.

Access to an attorney is one of the most important factors in determining whether an immigrant will be deported, they said.

“Without legal representation, immigrants are unfairly disadvantaged during immigration court proceedings,” said Sen. Kayse Jama (D), calling it a matter of “equity and human rights.”

“Everyone deserves due process,” she said.

Now advocating to replenish the program under SB 2543, the Oregon Legislative BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) Caucus argues in its policy agenda that “Oregonians are Oregonians no matter where we were born” and we must “continue providing immigration legal services to those in need.”

Use of Taxpayer Funds

Monique DeSpain, executive director and general counsel for the nonprofit Common Sense for Oregon, questions the constitutionality of providing any taxpayer-funded attorneys for issues of immigration law.

The Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution specifically guarantees the rights of the accused in criminal prosecutions, she told The Epoch Times.

“It doesn’t apply to providing assistance of counsel for defense of every person embroiled in any legal proceeding,” DeSpain said.

Immigrants who are trying to address their legal status are not criminal defendants, she said.

“At a time when [the state] can’t even meet its basic constitutional requirement to provide lawyers for criminal defendants, we should not be providing them for the civil matter of an immigrant working on their legal status,” said DeSpain.

“Leaving legal citizens who are criminal defendants waiting while millions are spent on those who are not entitled is a fraud on the taxpayers and an abuse of our criminal justice system.”

Is Public Funding Necessary?

Senate Bill 703 would direct the state Department of Human Services to provide $6 million in grants to nonprofit service providers to help eligible individuals apply for lawful permanent resident status.

The bill’s authors have declared the issue an “emergency,” meaning that it would go into effect immediately after being signed by the governor.

“Now more than ever, we must work together to protect some of our most vulnerable populations in Oregon,” wrote the bill’s sponsor, Ricki Ruiz (D), cochair of the BIPOC Caucus on Instagram.

Rep. Ed Diehl, a Republican, said he appreciates that the $6 million request is narrowly focused on helping DACA recipients and Special Immigrant Visa holders from Iraq and Afghanistan.

These groups, he said, have “deep ties to our communities and, in many cases, have contributed meaningfully to our country.”

But Diehl is concerned about fiscal priorities.

“This bill directs taxpayer money—intended to serve our state’s most vulnerable citizens—toward helping noncitizens adjust their immigration status,” Diehl told The Epoch Times. “Those funds would be better spent on pressing needs like elderly care, services for individuals with disabilities, foster care support, and mental health treatment.”

In addition, he said, there are many nonprofit organizations—both local and national—already dedicated to supporting immigrants.

“It’s worth asking whether public dollars are necessary here when private and philanthropic resources could fulfill this role.”

It’s also worth asking if Oregon’s legal landscape can accommodate more cases, he said.

Public Defense Crisis

The state finds itself in the midst of a decade-long public defense crisis caused, in part, by a shortage of defense attorneys.

In 2019, the nonpartisan, nonprofit Sixth Amendment Center (6AC) found the state’s public defense system so flawed that it was out of compliance with the U.S. and Oregon constitutions.

The state’s “compensation plan creates an incentive for attorneys to handle as many cases as possible and to do so as quickly as possible, rather than focusing on their ethical duty of achieving the client’s case-related goals,” the report stated.

The American Bar Association’s assessment in 2022 was less forgiving. In its analysis, called “The Oregon Project,” it deemed Oregon’s public defense system unethical at best, unconstitutional at worst. It also found that Oregon had only 47 percent of the public defenders it needed to effectively assist indigent clients.

In 2023, Gov. Tina Kotek signed sweeping legislation that overhauled public defender services in Oregon.

The new law adopted many of the recommendations from 6AC’s study.

However, the backlog of cases continues to grow. In 2022, there were fewer than 1,000 defendants waiting for a court-appointed attorney, according to the Oregon Judicial Department dashboard.

Today, there are more than 5,500.

According to the Oregon Justice Resource Center, more than 90 percent of people charged with crimes in Oregon depend on a public defender.

The governor’s current budget proposal recommends spending $720 million on attorney services for the 2025–27 budget cycle, representing nearly a 20 percent increase.

The budget calls for 40 new state public defenders.

Meanwhile, the number of public-defense related cases is projected to increase by 22 percent statewide by 2027, according to the Oregon Judicial Department.