Washington, D.C. – U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley joined their colleagues in calling on Donald Trump to immediately revoke an illegal Presidential Proclamation that would drastically limit the ability of refugees to claim asylum. U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar recently granted a temporary restraining order blocking implementation of the
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley today asked the country’s two largest private immigration detention contractors for information about their compliance with federal immigration detention standards. The letters from Wyden, Merkley and nine other senators to contractors GEO Group and CoreCivic follows a troubling report by
Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley today joined his colleagues in calling on U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to amend a new State Department policy that ends diplomatic visas for unmarried, same-sex partners of foreign diplomats and employees posted to the United States or at U.S.-based international
Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley today announced the introduction of the No Internment Camps Act, legislation to prevent the Trump Administration from forcing families fleeing persecution abroad into internment camps while they await their asylum hearings. Since the summer, the Trump Administration has aggressively pursued a strategy of forcing such families
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley released the following statement after the Senate voted to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court: “Today is a dark day for America. An individual totally unsuited to the bench has been confirmed as a Justice, harming the integrity and the
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley released the following statement after the Senate narrowly voted to advance the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh: “Hamilton said that the Senate’s ‘advice and consent’ duty was to determine if nominees are of fit or ‘unfit character.’ By that standard, Brett Kavanaugh fails
WASHINGTON, D.C. – With Senate leadership determined to ram through Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination this week, Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley has taken the emergency measure of filing for immediate relief in his separation of powers lawsuit. The motion asks the court to compel President Trump to produce Kavanaugh’s full
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley today announced he is filing a lawsuit arguing that the Trump Administration’s actions to withhold substantial parts of Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s record have violated the constitutional separation of powers and hindered Senators from fulfilling their constitutional duty of advice and consent on the
Text of the Letter (PDF) Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, along with 13 of their Senate colleagues and 116 of their House colleagues, today sent a letter to President Trump denouncing his recent statements about the fatalities in Puerto Rico from Hurricanes Irma
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley issued the following statement after releasing documents that show the Trump Administration transferred approximately $10 million away from FEMA to fund the administration’s immigration detention initiatives: “This is a scandal. At the start of hurricane season—when American citizens in Puerto Rico and the
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