July 16, 2025 2:50 a.m.

On Tuesday, Oregon’s U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and said they have joined a group of 21 Senate Democrats in pressing the Trump administration on its recent initiatives they claim are weaponizing immigration court hearings by terminating those cases and deporting people without due process.

In a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Todd Lyons, the senators condemned these actions as an affront to constitutionally mandated due process. The lawmakers wrote: “We are extremely concerned by reports of a recent initiative to arrest and detain noncitizens at their immigration court hearings, and in many cases, dismiss their immigration cases without advance notice and while hiding the government’s intent to arrest them”.

The letter concluded, “This manipulation of existing laws to enact this Administration’s mass deportation agenda is creating chaos in our immigration system while doing nothing to make our communities safer”.

In addition to Wyden and Merkley, the letter was signed by 23 other Democratic Senators.