A federal judge ruled that state and federal law don’t conflict over how Oregon counties respond to immigration subpoenas, dismissing a Marion County lawsuit that claimed gray areas in the law put local governments at legal risk. U.S. District Court Judge Michael McShane dismissed the lawsuit M onday, Feb. 23, disputing the county’s key claim that state and federal laws conflict on what information can be shared with immigration authorities in response to administrative requests not signed by a judge. The lawsuit stemmed from five administrative immigration subpoenas U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement sent to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office in August 2025. The subpoenas requested personal information, including addresses, employers and phone numbers, of men on parole after serving time for local criminal convictions. Rather than responding to the subpoenas, Marion County officials filed the lawsuit, naming Gov. Tina Kotek and top federal immigration officials. County officials provided the requested information to federal authorities in November following a court order to do so that stemmed from a separate lawsuit. Oregon’s sanctuary law prevents government agencies from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement, which includes sharing information, unless ordered by a judge. Critics of the lawsuit accused Marion County commissioners of trying to weaken the state’s sanctuary law. READ IT: Dismissal ruling McShane ruled Monday that county officials did not identify a “concrete injury” Marion County would suffer by refusing ICE the requested information. Attorney General Dan Rayfield made a similar argument in the state’s request for a dismissal in November. “Because state law unequivocally prohibits Marion County from producing the requested information without a court order, and because the county will suffer no legal consequences from insisting that a court order issue before it complies, there is nothing further for this court to do,” Rayfield wrote. Marion County Counsel Steve Elzinga and county spokesman Jon Heynen did not respond to a request for comment on the ruling Monday by the time of publication. Elzinga renewed the county’s request for a ruling in the case over a week ago after officials received another ICE subpoena earlier this month for information about 19 people. Elzinga asked McShane to weigh in on the county’s legal obligations to respond to the new subpoena in a Feb. 13 filing. Elzinga and Heynen did not respond to questions sent last week about the new subpoena. When asking McShane to dismiss the case, a state attorney argued that Marion County invented “a false conflict between state and federal law.” McShane agreed with the state’s argument that there is “no uncertainty about the law” that needs a judge’s ruling to resolve, the order said. His ruling disputed the county’s claim that officials could face harm if they did not comply with immigration subpoenas. “(Marion County) argues ‘the future harm here is far from hypothetical or self-inflicted.’ … Yet (Marion County’s) alleged harm would arise from its own refusal to comply with a judicial enforcement order,” McShane wrote. When faced with a judicial order to comply, Marion County did so the same day, Salem Reporter previously reported. McShane noted that Marion County never claimed the federal government threatened consequences for county officials if they did not comply with the subpoenas. McShane’s ruling also bars county officials from filing another lawsuit over the same claims.  PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Judge orders Marion County to share parolee information with ICE State asks judge to dismiss Marion County ICE lawsuit Marion County releases records at core of ICE lawsuit to Salem Reporter Marion County asks federal judge to decide if it can share parolee information with ICE Contact reporter Madeleine Moore: [email protected]. LOCAL NEWS DELIVERED TO YOU: Subscribe to Salem Reporter and get all the fact-based Salem news that matters to you. Fair, accurate, trusted – SUBSCRIBE. The post Judge dismisses Marion County’s lawsuit over ICE subpoenas appeared first on Salem Reporter. ...read more read less