With the recent change in presidential policies regarding immigrants and the definition of what constitutes a U.S. citizen have been significantly altered. These changes have sparked intense debate and division within American society. Deportation policies, which are used to return immigrants lacking permanent legal status, convicts, and even some green card holders to their countries of origin, have become a central point of contention.
At West Albany, the impact of these policies is felt deeply among students and staff, particularly those who are first or second-generation immigrants. Many of these people live with the constant fear of deportation, which affects their everyday lives.
CHIEF MARCIA HARNDEN
There are two main police departments and two sheriff’s offices in Linn-Benton County. Albany is under the jurisdiction of the Albany Police Department, led by Chief Marcia Harnden. An announcement was made to the public to the school district that the local police force would not be cooperating with any federal government agencies when it came to citizenship and status.
“There [are] multiple layers of law enforcement in this country—federal, down to state level,” Harnden said in an interview. “The laws that guide us in our daily duties are the Oregon state laws. We follow the Oregon state Constitution.”
Oregon is a sanctuary state, meaning that there is a restriction on how much the police can engage and share information with immigration authorities. If the federal government comes to the Albany Police Department for issues related to immigration, the local police do not have the authority to share information unless there is a warrant signed by a judicial judge.
“We can’t ask where they are from or if they are in the country legally,” Harnden said. “We can’t share the jail roster information with immigration authorities.”
The exception to this is if there were an extreme crime. In that case, the police would work with federal authorities, which is called a criminal nexus. If a person is involved with drugs, human or labor trafficking, or other federal offenses, these are cases when the Albany police have worked with the FBI or U.S. Marshals.
“Immigration is where it becomes more gray,” Harnden said.
In these cases, sharing a person’s citizenship status is discussed by the higher levels of the police department.
“We take [this] very seriously,” Harnden said. “We would share the information about the case and the impacts across state lines and country borders.”
Once President Donald Trump took office, the Attorney General’s office sent a reminder to all Oregon forces of the Oregon laws that the federal government has no say on. When it comes to the recent politics regarding immigration, Harnden speaks for a majority of the force when it comes to the community.
“I’ve been doing this for 32 years, and Albany is between 12-15% Hispanic. Most of us don’t care,” Harnden said. According to Harnden, when police interact with the public on a daily basis, they are not allowed to ask a person’s immigration status. “That’s the expectation. It’s not our job.”
The fear on national news about deportation and ICE has negatively affected the stereotype of police across the nation. There has constantly been a poor portrayal of police within recent culture, commonly police abusing their power according to Harnden. This stereotype has increased with people accusing any officers of being Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in disguise.
“[People] are afraid of the police,” Harnden said, “and we’ve worked hard to build a good relationship with all of our community members, particularly our Hispanic community, and have done a lot to reassure them that they should not fear [police].”
JUNIOR JERRY WANG
It was the year of 1998: a Chinese immigrant moving to America under a student visa was going to attend Clemson University in South Carolina. Because his name, Xinyu, was too hard to pronounce for his peers and professors at his university, he became Mark. After around four months of being in America, Xinyu’s wife Bei Shen, who did not change her last name because it’s common in Chinese culture to keep your last name after marriage, decided to travel to America as well and to join Xinyu.
During Bill Clinton’s time in the presidential office, he strived to make the education system for immigrants and their families better by improving their standard of living and making bilingual education easier and more accessible. This increased the number of immigrants who were looking for education in the U.S.
When the couple was beginning their life in America, they didn’t experience any negative interactions with the government; however, they found themselves subject to standard stereotypes of Asians, which was annoying.
Junior Jerry Wang, the child of these two, is now a high school student attending WAHS. Wang was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and moved to Albany at three months old, making him a U.S. citizen since birth. “I’m a U.S. citizen,” Wang said. “I have an American passport.”
Both of Wang’s parents are permanent residents and green card holders, and have been since 2011.. As of now, green card holders cannot be deported unless they commit certain crimes. However, recent events regarding a student from Columbia University, a notable figure in the Gaza war protest there, have raised concern in Wang’s mind.
“I was only mildly concerned, but since the incident with Mahmoud Khalil, I suddenly feel more and more concerned,” Wang said. “I’m starting to get [actively] worried.”
Wang’s worries regarding potential changes to federal laws and the possibilities of the future still arise. Wang described his evolving concerns for his family and their legal status.
“I’m concerned that at this rate, all of our legal protections are being rolled back and assaulted,” Wang said, anxiously clutching his lunch bag to his chest. “Right now, I’m worried that my family is going to, at worst, get deported or arrested. I don’t think my parents are in danger of deportation, but I feel like that still probably won’t stop a lot of people from wanting them deported.”
Although Wang’s concerns have developed over time, he shared the recent worries he has developed regarding events happening today. “I still don’t think they [can] do anything to me legally, but now after the [events with Khalil], I don’t think my parents are as safe as they were before.” Wang shared that he isn’t worried that his U.S. citizenship will be taken away or that he will be deported, but questions on what the future looks like fill his mind.
SENIOR STANISLAVA YAKENVENKA
From the small country of Belarus, senior Stanislava Yakavenka moved to the United States at four years old.
“[I] walk[ed] into America and didn’t realize that it was a different country,” Yakavenka said. “I [spoke] Russian and didn’t make any friends until I took on English.”
It wasn’t difficult for Yakaneka to pick up English at a young age; they felt like they fit in and weren’t judged for their heritage because they were Slavic.
“You can’t tell. I’m white and don’t have a Russian accent anymore in English,” Yakavenka said. “But with my parents, they get small pauses after people start talking to them.”
When President Trump first took office, Yakavenka’s parents were concerned with the fact that they could get deported because they only held their green cards at that point.
“My parents got freaked out, especially because we weren’t technically fully legal immigrants,” Yakavenka said. “It was only during [the presidential term of Joe] Biden that we got naturalized, specifically so that if Trump ever came back, we would be fine.”
When it comes to Yakavenka’s identity, they consider themself Russian.
“I understand American culture, and I do partake in a majority of it, but I still consider myself Russian,” Yakavenka said. “We eat the food, we talk in Russian at our house… I don’t like to particularly [identify as] American; it feels like I’m abandoning my roots.”
FRESHMAN MAYA ESQUIVEL
Freshman Maya Esquivel Gutierrez’s heritage is an important part of her identity. Gutierrez’s father came to America from his family in Mexico for better work opportunities. It wasn’t until regulations about immigration became more severe that he gained citizenship. It was then he married and moved to Albany.
Gutierrez explained how it was to be an immigrant without legal status and the potential threat of deportation through her mother’s experience.
“She wasn’t really living, she was mostly surviving for her future. To go through so much mental stress and stress on your body [by] working yourself tirelessly,” Gutierrez said. “Then only for all of that to be ripped away because you weren’t born here really hurts me.”
After the pandemic, Gutierrez returned to school, often bringing ethnic food for lunch that took her mother hours to make.
“I was proud of who I was because my parents taught me that I shouldn’t be ashamed of the place I’m from,” Gutierrez said.
It was then she was discriminated against for her food and her ethnicity as a Mexican with her family immigrant history.
“[People] would comment on my features and my skin color. One of them would tell me I looked exotic… One of them went out of their way to comment on my mom’s foods,” Gutierrez said. “It hurt me. A lot of those foods that my mom would make, she put a lot of effort and love into them.”
Now, when asked about immigration policies, Gutierrez argues that America should be open to refugees and workers in need of a better life.
“They will come here without those papers because they need [to]. They just can’t wait any longer,” Gutierrez said.
As Trump’s presidency goes on, there is expected changes within how immigration status, and prevention of illegal crossings in the up coming future. Uncertainty can be found within students and community members of how things will change. As of right now, Oregon’s sanction laws are the code Albany officers are following and immigration authorities don’t have access to information regarding legal status unless shared with them through the police.
