C. Oregonians share views on executive actions

Inge Kriegler was born in Germany five years after World War II ended.

“In 1952, when my parents were immigrating out of Germany, they were not allowed to emigrate into the United States,” Kriegler said Wednesday.

She and her parents wanted to move to America at a time not long after Germany was a fierce adversary of the U.S. There were restrictions on immigrants from there.

“I thought that was perfectly fine, and they did too, so we went to Canada,” Kriegler said.

They finally landed in America in 1960.

Despite the similarities between Kriegler and refugees from one of the seven countries President Trump’s executive order named, she said she believes the decision was fair and necessary.

“A country without borders is not a country,” she said. “I think it makes perfect sense to me that you have to properly vet people.”

And, she added, we don’t know enough about the people who want to come to America.

“I don’t think anybody knows,” Kriegler said. “So until we know for sure, it makes a lot of sense to just say. ‘Hold everything,’ like we’ve done with a lot of other things. If you’re not sure what’s going on, put the brakes on.”

Thousands of protesters who disagree with that sentiment swarmed airports and streets recently in opposition to the president’s actions involving immigration and refugees.

An immigration lawyer in Bend brought up the expedited removal process to portray what could happen if President Trump’s agenda is advanced.

“You’re deportable without a hearing or even a right of counsel, unless you can show you’ve been in the country at least two years,” Bend immigration lawyer Dan Larsson said. “At which point you can still request asylum and a credible-fear interview. But they’re looking at expanding that nationwide.”

Larsson said Central Oregon is home to many immigrants, and President Trump’s executive actions have a great chance of affecting them.