Tag Archives: Oregon Food Bank

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Oregon’s “Illegals Industry”

You may have already heard of the term “homeless industrial complex” . It’s usually a derogatory term referring to a network of organizations involved in addressing homelessness that actually perpetuate it due to the jobs and financial incentives involved in the effort.  While multiple outreach entities rake in millions, the steady supply of people living on the streets persists and even grows.

It’s not so much a nefarious conspiracy as blind ideology, argues an article in CityWatch, an opinion, and news website out of Los Angeles, where homelessness has grown as spending on it has accelerated. 

In the same vein, it looks like many of the efforts in Oregon to help immigrants in the US illegally have spurred the creation of an “Illegals Industry” that, while claiming to be positively managing a problem is spurring it. And in the process, just as with homelessness, government is lighting our money on fire. 

As scholar Clay Shirky says, “An organization that commits to helping society manage a problem also commits itself to the preservation of that same problem, as its institutional existence hinges on society’s continued need for its management”. That’s the Shirky Principle at work: “Institutions will try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution.” 

The current debate in the Oregon legislature over a Food For All Oregonians program proposed by  SB 611  illustrates the the problem Illegals Industrial Complex. The program proposes providing nutrition assistance to residents of Oregon who are under 26 years of age or 55 years of age or older and who would qualify for federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits but for their immigration status. In other words, it would extend to people in the United States illegally food benefits equivalent to those provided under the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) program. 

Written testimony supporting SB 611 submitted by the Oregon Food Bank to the Senate Committee on Human Services noted that the bill is supported by a coalition of more than 165 Oregon organizations.[1]

The endorsers include churches, unions, groceries, educational institutions, refugee organizations, anti-poverty groups, Planned Parenthood, health services, foster care programs, ethnic interest groups, immigrant aid groups, homeless advocates, farmers markets and a host of other social service groups. 

“Immigration status shouldn’t exclude anyone from being able to feed themselves or their family,” Food for all Oregonians says. 

While all may have a sincere concern for the non-citizens in Oregon, supporting state funding of free food for non-citizens also encourages immigrants to come here illegally, perpetuating the problem. As the Economic Policy Innovation Center, a conservative think tank, puts it, ” Many illegal aliens become eligible for taxpayer-funded welfare programs, costing billions of dollars annually. These benefits… are a significant pull factor for illegal immigration.”

Oregon has already expanded free health insurance that mirrors Medicaid to all residents who qualify, regardless of their immigration status. Non-citizens, including undocumented residents, also have access to Oregon driver licenses, despite Oregonians voting 66% to 44% in 2014 against giving driver’s license privileges to people without proper U.S. government documentation. The Legislature overrode voters in 2019 by pushing a bill through (HB 2015) with a clause that didn’t allow for a citizen referendum.

Several bills are also before the 2025 legislature that would offer other benefits to non-citizens.

SB 703, for example, directs the Department of Human Services to provide grants to non-profit service providers to assist individuals who are non-citizens to change their immigration status or obtain lawful permanent resident status. The bill is sponsored by 4 Democratic senators, 5 Democratic representatives and 1 Republican representative. 

You can be sure Oregon’s Illegals Industry will support all of these bills, regardless of the cost or impact. .

[1] Food for All Oregonians, Campaign Endorsers 

1st Baptist HOPE Food Pantry, 211 Info, Accent Network, Access Care Anywhere, Adelante Mujeres, Afghan Support Network, Afghanistan Oregon Association, AFL-CIO, African Refugee Immigrant Organization (ARIO), African Youth & Community Organization (ayco), APANO, Arab American Cultural Center of Oregon, ARISE and Shine, Basic Rights Oregon (BRO), Beyond, Toxics, Black Oregon Land Trust, Blanchet House of Hospitality, CAMPO, Cascade Aids Project (CAP), Catholic Community Services of Lane County (CCSLC), Central City Concern, Centro Cultural, Children’s Institute, Clackamas Community College, Clackamas Service Center, Clay Street Table, Columbia Gorge Women’s Action Network, Community Alliance of Lane County (CALC), Community Connection of Northeast Oregon, Inc., Community for Positive Aging – Asian Food Pantry, Community Pulse Association, Consejo Hispano, Consolidated Oregon Indivisible Network, Eastern Oregon Association for the Education of Young Children (EOAEYC), Eastern Oregon Center for Independent Living (EOCIL), Eat Drink Washington County, Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon, Educate Ya, Estacada Area Food Bank, Ethiopian and Eritrean Cultural and Resource Center, Eugene-Springfield SURJ, EUVALCREE, Familias en Acción, Family Forward, Farmers Market Fund, Feed’em Freedom Foundation, First Tech Credit Union, Food Corps NW, Food for Families, FOOD For Lane County, Food Roots, Forest Grove Foundation, Friends of Family Farmers, Gorge Grown Food Network, Growing Gardens, Guerreras Latinas, HAKI Community Organization, Hand Up Project, Healthcare for All Oregon, High Desert Food and Farm Alliance, Hood River County Board of Commissioners, Hood River Latino Network (HRLN), Human Services Coalition of Oregon, Innovation Law Lab, Interfaith Alliance on Poverty, Interfaith Movement for Immigrant Justice (IMIrJ), IRCO, Iu Mien Association of Oregon, Ka Aha Lahui Olekona, Klamath Grown, Lane Community College, Latino Community Association, Latino Network, Lending A Helping Hand, Lift UP, Living Islands Non-profit, Maihan Social and Cultural Community, Malheur County Democratic Central Committee, Medford Food Co-op, Metro City Council, Mercy Connections Inc, Micronesian Islander Community (MIC Oregon), Milwaukie Spanish SDA Church, Montavilla Farmers Market, Muslim Educational Trust, National Partnership for New Americans, Neighborhood House, New Seasons, Next Up Action Fund, Nonprofit Association of Oregon, North Coast Food Web, Northwest Center for Alternatives to Pesticides, Northwest Family Services, NOWIA Unete Center for Farm Worker Advocacy, Nutrition Garden RX, OneAdonaI (we help!), Ontario Mini Market, Oregon AFSCME, Oregon Association of Relief Nurseries (OARN), Oregon Center for Public Policy (OCPP), Oregon Farm to School & School Garden Network, Oregon Food Bank, Oregon Health Equity Alliance, Oregon Human Development Corporation, Oregon Hunger Task Force, Oregon Just Transition Alliance, Oregon Latino Health Coalition (OLHC), Oregon Law Center (OLC), Oregon League of Conservation Voters (OLCV), Oregon Organic Coalition, Oregon Public Health Association, Oregon Rural Action, Oregon School Based Health Alliance, Oregon State University-Extension, Oregon Synod, Oregon Worker Relief, Our Children Oregon, Our Community Birth Center, Pacific Refugee Support Group, Partners for a Hunger Free Oregon, Partnership for Safety and Justice, PCUN, People’s Food Co-op, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon, Plaza de Nuestra Comunidad, Portland Central Kitchen, Portland Open Bible Community Pantry, Raíces, Reedsport Collective, Right To Health, Inc, RISEN Community, Rogue Farm Corps, Rogue Food Unites, Rural Organizing Project (ROP), Sanctuary Committee of Temple Beth Israel, Sarah’s Foster Care, Seed to Table Oregon, SEIU Local 503, Sisters of the Road, SnowCap, Social Justice Coalition, Central Lutheran Church, Portland, Somali American Council Of Oregon (SACOO), Somali Oregon Service Center, Springfield Eugene Tenant Association, St. Timothy Episcopal Church, Start Raising Young African Lives, Ten Rivers Food Web, Tides of Change, Tikkun Olam Committee of Temple Beth Israel, Tillamook County Board of Commissioners, Tualatin Food Pantry, Tualatin Valley Gleaners, UFCW, Unite Oregon, United Congolese Community Organization of Oregon, Urban League of Portland, VIVA Inclusive Migrant Network, We Do Better Relief, Welcome Home Coalition, Western States Center, William Temple House, Willowbrook Food Pantry, Working Theory Farm, Zenger Farm

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Free Food for Oregon’s Non-Citizens: Another Bad Budget-Busting Idea

With all the budget troubles facing Oregon, the Oregon Center for Public Policy wants it to spend more to feed immigrants in the country illegally. 

The way things are headed in Oregon there soon won’t be any difference between a citizen and someone here illegally except the right to vote. And some even want to change that, based on the 164,781 Multnomah County residents who voted for a 2022 ballot measure that would have allowed people who are not U.S. citizens to vote in county elections. The ballot measure was defeated, but only by a vote of 52.71% to 47.29%.

“Voting exclusion based on non-citizen censorship is arbitrary, it’s unfair and it disproportionately impacts people of color,” ACLU Senior Policy Associate Mariana Garciá Medina said after the 2022 vote. “It silences the voices of community members.” That logic is reflected in the views of today’s supporters of giving free food to immigrants in the country illegally. 

“Right now, some Oregonians face hunger on a daily basis simply because of where they were born,” the Oregon Center for Public Policy says, pleading for residents to “Tell the Oregon Legislature to pass Food for All Oregonians, SB 611“.

The left-leaning think tank, which claims to have a “vision of an equitable Oregon”, apparently doesn’t have a vision of an Oregon that lives within its means. 

Undocumented immigrants in the United States are generally ineligible for federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, formerly known as the Food Stamp Program. Only U.S. citizens and certain lawfully present non-citizens may receive SNAP benefits, which currently consume $122.1 billion annually, or 53%, of the Department of Agriculture’s budget.

The Food for All Oregonians Program would provide nutrition assistance to residents of Oregon who are under 26 years of age or 55 years of age or older and who would qualify for federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits but for their immigration status.

SB 611’s sponsors are, of course, almost all Democrats. Its chief sponsors are Sen. Wlnsvey Campos and Rep. Ricki Ruiz. Regular Sponsors are 18 more Democrats and one Republican, Rep. Mark Owens. 

The bill would create the Food for All Oregonians Program in the Department of Human Services, require the department to implement the program by January 1, 2027, and mandate that the department conduct statewide outreach, education and engagement to maximize enrollment.  The amount of benefits provided to a household participating in the program would be in the same amount provided to a household of equal size that is eligible for SNAP. 

As expected, the Oregon Food Bank, a hunger relief organization serving Oregon and S.W. Washington, supports the bill. In written testimony submitted to the Senate Committee on Human Services, which noted the bill is supported by a coalition of more than 165 organizations, Oregon Food Bank argued that many people in the state who work in food production, childcare, healthcare institutions, education, transportation and other critical services throughout the state don’t now get feed benefits and that “Immigration status shouldn’t exclude anyone from being able to feed themselves or their family.”

The committee has also received a deluge of supportive testimony from other individuals and organizations.

Some commenters justify their support for the bill by asserting that Washington and California already provide SNAP-equivalent benefits to non-citizens. That is not exactly so.

Washington has a state-funded Food Assistance Program, called FAP, is a state-funded program that provides food assistance to legal immigrants who aren’t eligible for federal Basic Food benefits solely because of their immigration status., but undocumented immigrants are not eligible. [1]

In California, the California Food Assistance Program (CFAP), a state funded program, provides benefits equivalent to SNAP (called CalFresh in CA) to qualified immigrants who are not eligible for CalFresh, but with limitations. Effective October 1, 2025, CFAP will expand to cover persons age 55 or older regardless of their immigration status. 

As for Oregon, SB 611 is being put forward as the state is confronting potential federal funding cuts, everybody and their brother seems to want higher spending on schools, affordable housing, transportation and healthcare, Trump tariffs could lead to a trade war that hurts export-heavy Oregon and fears of a national recession are growing.

But what stands out even more in the current debate over the bill? All of its enthusiastic supporters haven’t the faintest idea what it would cost the state. 

But, what the heck. It’s only money.

Addendum

“It’s only money” appears to be the theory behind another bill now before the Oregon legislature that offers benefits to immigrants in the country illegally. On March 15, Pamela Fitzsimmons, writing for Portland Dissent on Substack, reminded Oregonians of a $15 million pilot project Oregon lawmakers approved in 2022 to provide immigrants facing deportation with free state-funded legal representation and of the 2025 bill , HB 2543, requesting another funding round. Fitzsimmons notes HB 2543 would maintain previous funding levels: $10.5 million from the General Fund to the Oregon Department of Administrative Services to be deposited in the Universal Representation Fund, and another $4.5 million from the General Fund to be transferred via the Judicial Department to the Oregon State Bar to provide legal services on immigration matters.

[1] https://shorturl.at/FniRa

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The Oregon Food Bank Antagonizes Oregon Jewish Groups Over Gaza

Non-profit groups, like many academic institutions and corporations, have gotten in the unfortunate habit of opining on sensitive political and cultural issues. And they are paying a price. They often learn, too late, that their outspokenness is like stepping on a landmine.

A Portland-area non-profit taking issue with Israel’s actions in Gaza, to illustrate, is facing a backlash from local Jewish groups.

.In April the Oregon Food Bank drafted a statement calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. 

The statement also accused Israel of perpetuating a “war against Palestine,” and said the Israeli military was “indiscriminately” hindering relief efforts in the region.

“As Oregonians, our tax dollars are funding the Israel army’s violence”, the statement said. “We call for immediate humanitarian aid and an end to Israel’s violence against Palestinians…”

The Food Bank’s president, Susannah Morgan, wrote to Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) that this kind of stance on an international conflict was a first for the organization.

The Food Bank has not expressed similar concerns about Russia’s indiscriminate killing of Ukrainians, the conflict in Sudan or Bashar al-Assad’s brutal war in Syria.

On June 4, the Food Bank issued a “statement to our community” thanking its supporters after its pronouncement generated controversy and a protest from local Jewish groups. . “Over the past few days, many of you have reached out, commented, posted, published written statements, signed petitions and donated in solidarity with Oregon Food Bank. Thank you for your support. We are touched by the overwhelming support we’ve received from community members…” 

But a dozen local Jewish organizations[1] persisted in their condemnation of the Food Bank’s actions. In a letter, they expressed their “deep disappointment” in the Food Bank’s statement and asserted, “In our view, the false accusations serve to further the flames of Jewish hatred.”

The letter made clear that financial support for the Food Bank from the organizations would cease and be directed, instead, to other organizations until such time as the Oregon Food Bank “…retracts its statement and issues one indicating it will maintain its focus on hunger and its root causes here in Oregon.”

You’d think the Oregon Food Bank would have been smart enough to have foreseen the consequences of stepping out front on the Gaza war., a divisive issue if there ever was one. 

A little knowledge of history would have given the Food Bank caution. 

In July 2023, for example, the CEO of Goya Foods said at a White House roundtable of Hispanic leaders, “We’re all truly blessed to have a leader like President Trump.” All hell broke loose, as his comment sparked ire against Goya from Trump opponents. 

Some employees, particularly young college educated ones, may push organizations to take strong public stances on controversial issues, but it can have devastating consequences in the public arena. If institutions fail to stand above divisive issues, choosing, instead, to add to public divisiveness, society becomes poorer for it. 

In April 2024, Bloomberg reported that a new survey of 600 C-suite leaders showed that nearly nine in 10 are now wary of wading into world events. Some 87% said that taking a public stance on current issues poses a greater risk for their company than not saying anything.

With 501(c)(3) non-profits, there is also the fact of restrictions on their political activity. They are generally not permitted to get involved in political issues and are permitted very limited lobbying. They may engage in general voter education about issues, including those which affect its mission, but only so long as all viewpoints are represented.Failing in that respect by taking a stand on current issues can affect a non-profit’s tax-exempt status.

Nonprofits should take heed, including whoever replaces  Susannah Morgan when she leaves her post in December.

[1] Jewish Federation of Greater Portland; Jewish Family and Child Service;  Mittleman Jewish Community Center ; Oregon NCSY;  Oregon Jewish Community Foundation; Portland Jewish Academy;  Portland Kollel; Congregation Beth Israel; Congregation Neveh Shalom; Congregation Shaarie Torah; Congregation Keser Israel; Congregation Ahavath Achim

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What Were They Thinking? Multnomah County’s Non-Citizen Voting Proposal

The election’s over, and Measure 26-231, an appalling proposal to let non-citizens vote in Multnomah County, lost 52.79% – 47.21%. But the fact it even got on the ballot should worry us all. 

What in heaven’s name would have propelled a group of citizens to advocate undermining their constitutional rights with such an alarming proposal? And the fact the measure got 163,163 votes is a distressing reminder that the idea of non-citizen voting is in danger of being normalized.

“We need to stop pretending like this is okay or normal because it’s not,”  Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC) said earlier this year, “Non-citizen voting is explicitly un-American and disrespectful to those who fought and died for the preservation of our freedoms and democracy.”

A Charter Review Committee appointed by state senators and representatives who represent districts in Multnomah County initiated the proposal. 

The committee members, all appropriately listing  their She/Her, She/They, They/Them, He/Him pronouns on the committee’s website, were a cabal of overzealous progressives akin to a left-leaning social justice advocacy non-profit intent on remaking the body politic to advance their agenda.

Samantha Gladu (She/They) was described as“…committed to addressing power inequities by building representative and progressive anti-racist leadership.” 

Ana I. González Muñoz (She/Her)“…works at Latino Network as the Director of Community Engagement & Leadership Development” and her “… professional and personal commitment revolves around serving her community to advocate for equity, inclusion, and social justice.” 

Jude Perez (They/Them)“…is the Grants Manager at Seeding Justice…an organization that practices community-led grantmaking to distribute funds to grassroots groups that are working towards long-term, systemic solutions, and community-centered strategies to dismantle oppression in Oregon.”

The civic groups that supported the measure[1] deserve to be admonished as well. 

The ACLU of Oregon made the illogical argument that the measure advanced its commitment to the civil liberties and civil rights fundamental to our democracy, ignoring the fact it would mean one less benefit to be gained from becoming a citizen and erode  the integrity of America’s  democracy,

The Oregon Food Bank exceeded its mandate when it endorsed Measure 26-231 because it would “extend voting rights to more local residents who are affected by county policies.”

Measure 26-231 was not just an example of progressive overreach, but of moral rot. It was a sign not of appreciation, but of contempt, for liberal democracy. At its root, it was a progressive attempt to enlarge their base.

The idea made a mockery of citizenship, removing the long-standing linkage between the responsibilities of citizenship and voting rights. 

Before the Nov. 8 election, Ricardo Lujan-Valerio, a policy director to Portland City Commissioner Carmen Rubio and former policy associate at ACLU of Oregon, told OPB he estimated the committee’s proposal “…could potentially affect up to 100,000 people if the final definition of ‘noncitizen’ includes the roughly 22,000 undocumented residents living in Portland.” It’s not clear if that estimate included not just undocumented people in the county illegally, but also people admitted to the US legally, but not yet US citizens.  

That many non-citizens added to Multnomah County’s voting rolls would have resulted in a substantial dilution of the power of the county’s citizen voters.

Justice Ralph J. Porzio, a State Supreme Court justice on New York City’s Staten Island, raised the dilution issue when, on June 27, 2022, he struck down a law that would have allowed non-citizens to vote in local elections in New York City, saying it violated the State Constitution.

“This Court finds that the registration of new voters will certainly affect voters, political parties, candidate’s campaigns, re-elections, and the makeup of their constituency and is not speculative.,” the judge said in his ruling. “The weight of the citizens’ vote will be diluted by municipal voters and candidates and political parties alike will need to reconfigure their campaigns. Though the Plaintiffs have not suffered any harm today, the harm they will suffer is imminent, and it is reasonably certain that they will suffer their claimed harm if the proposed municipal voters are entitled to vote.”

“Voting is of the most fundamental significance under our constitutional structure…The addition of 800,000 to 1,000,000 non-eligible votes into municipal elections significantly devalues the votes of the New York citizens who have lawfully and meaningfully earned the right to vote pursuant to constitutional requirements.”

The Charter Review Committee’s non-citizen voting proposal would have devalued the votes of citizens in Multnomah County and run counter to the values of our constitutional republic. May it rest in peace.

 

 

[1] ACLU of Oregon; Adelante Mujeres; APANO (Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon); Center for Migration, Gender, and Justice; Coalition of Communities of Color; IRCO (Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization); Latino Network; Next Up; Oregon Food Bank; Oregon Interfaith Movement for Immigrant Justice.