Washington County commissioners on Nov. 4 reviewed a draft emergency declaration addressing the local impacts of federal immigration enforcement. County Counsel told the board the operative language delegates authority to the County Administrator "to authorize expenditures under this emergency declaration in an amount of up to $200,000 to support immigrants and refugees in Washington County." No formal vote was taken during the work session.

County Counsel told commissioners the declaration as drafted had been reviewed for legal conformity with Oregon Revised Statutes, the county charter and county ordinances. Counsel emphasized that any use of public funds must be consistent with local, state and federal law: "we can't direct any public funds to go without being consistent with local, state, and federal law."

Commissioners expressed differing views about the declaration's scope. Several commissioners said they supported using limited county reserves to provide immediate support and preferred routing funds to community-based organizations (for example, Centro and Adelante were mentioned by commissioners as the types of groups that could allocate resources to those in need). One commissioner said the declaration as drafted was too open-ended and explicitly stated they would not vote for it; another said the declaration was a necessary first step and preferred to provide staff and community-based organizations flexibility to determine the highest-and-best use of funds.

Board members also discussed non-financial measures raised at recent community meetings, including whether law enforcement should document federal enforcement activity (commissioners noted the sheriff's office cannot intervene in federal actions and cautioned about asking deputies to divert resources). Commissioners discussed possible uses of funds, such as legal assistance, rental assistance for households or businesses, and mitigating utility shutoffs, but no specific allocations or programs were adopted in the work session.

Several commissioners asked for a public communication to clarify what the declaration would and would not do; the board discussed preparing a media or explanatory release to accompany any action to avoid public misunderstanding about county authority and to explain legal limits.

The item was left for further action at the business meeting; commissioners planned to present the declaration for formal consideration in the upcoming session.