ICE Has No Business Here

For a moment, think about the people who lived and worked in towns outside of Auschwitz, Buchenwald, or Treblinka during World War II. To bring it closer to home, think about those who lived near the Portland Assembly Center, the repurposed Livestock Exposition Center used for Japanese residents in Portland.

In high school, I first learned that friends’ parents and grandparents had been herded up and sent there. They were forced to walk away from homes and possessions. I knew the livestock center – it was just 3 miles from my home at the northern edge of town. But, no one ever talked about it. Even though, like many regular people in many "villages" across our country, some of them made it possible.

In the end, 100,000 U.S. citizens who were also Japanese were gathered up, concentrated in one place, and interred in camps like Manzanar. Afterwards, the livestock center went back to be just for cattle. Village inhabitants forgot.

I am sure that some of the people who lived near Auschwitz or the Portland Assembly Center were ignorant of what was happening. Still others must have been uncertain or felt confused. But some helped these places get built and others worked to keep them functioning.

We are responsible for helping others know the facts about the proposed internment camp here in Newport. DHS may not be forthcoming, as we have been told by Senator Wyden, Representative Gomberg, and Newport City Council. Nonetheless, the evidence is clear. Our business neighbors are being approached to rent rooms, deliver water, and carry away waste from such a camp.

Business owners and operators are part of the community in Lincoln County We are interdependent. Because of that, we must tell them that establishing a detention facility in Newport will jeopardize the entire coastal economy. More importantly, it will destroy families. One has only to listen to the young woman who spoke at the recent Special Meeting in Newport or at Wyden’s Town Hall to understand that.

As consumers, we should hold our business neighbors to account and require them to be transparent about who they are serving. We need to make sure that everyone’s eyes are wide open. We must also inform those who are ignorant and talk with those who are uncertain

It takes a village to raise a child, to allow a concentration camp, or to prevent it.