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Oregon News
Attorney general clears way for state questioning of foreigners
By CHARLES E. BEGGS
The Associated Press
11/27/01 3:44 PM
SALEM, Ore. (AP) -- Attorney General Hardy Myers on Tuesday cleared the way for state investigators to question foreign visitors as part of the federal terrorism probe.
Myers said state law doesn't forbid his agency or State Police "from conducting such interviews as part of a criminal investigation to identify and apprehend people who have conspired, or are conspiring, to commit crimes."
Myers' comments were in a memo to his Criminal Division, which he directed to "assist the federal government in the interview process."
Portland police have refused a request from U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft to interview foreign visitors -- the first police department in the nation to do so -- on grounds that it would violate state privacy laws.
But Myers said the state law does not prohibit posing the kind of questions the FBI is trying to get answered.
The state law, he said, pertains to asking questions about "politicial, religious or social" activities or views of people who aren't criminal suspects.
Myers said his advice directly affects only state investigators and that local police must depend on their own counsel.
The Oregon State Police were awaiting guidance on how to handle the request from Ashcroft, who has sought assistance from local law enforcement officers across the country in conducting voluntary interviews of 5,000 people. Most are Middle Eastern men in the United States on nonimmigrant visas who hold passports from countries where the United States has identified terrorist cells.
A list of 200 names was given to Portland police.
Michael Mosman, U.S. attorney for Oregon, has said he believes the interviews are legal and will likely go ahead. Local agencies, however, have the right to refuse to help. The idea behind the request was to reduce the load on the FBI, he said.
Deputy Portland City Attorney David Lesh and Greg Chaimov, the Legislature's chief lawyer, have concluded that some of the two dozen questions that federal officials want asked likely would run afoul of state law.
However, the city of Portland may now be leaning toward helping the FBI with the interviews.
The U.S. Justice Department recently sent a narrower list of questions to Portland city officials, eliminating a number of questions that had troubled Portland's city attorney.
`City and federal officials are still working on that list.
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