Oregon will likely lose millions of federal dollars for programs that help support survivors of child sexual abuse, domestic violence and other violent crimes due to the state’s status as a sanctuary state.

For years, Oregon has relied on Federal Victims of Crime (known as VOCA) grants to help fund nearly 150 victim service providers across the state. Last month, language added to the grant compels states that receive the money to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement efforts.

In Oregon, that would violate the state’s sanctuary law.

Jenny Gilmore-Robinson, the executive director of CARES Northwest, a children’s advocacy group that offers trauma-informed medical evaluations after a child has been abused, said she’s worried this will set crime victim advocacy groups back decades.

“There are going to be child advocacy centers that are going to have to close their doors, or at the very least, reduce their capacity,” she said, which means kids will be medically examined in “chaotic emergency rooms” rather than a medical setting geared toward their needs.

“They’re gonna go back to being interviewed in police stations or in their homes, you know, steps away from where the abuse may have occurred or with an earshot of an abuser,” Gilmore-Robinson said. CARES Northwest works with children in Washington and Multnomah counties and is also funded by major hospitals such as Legacy Health.

Oregon stands to lose some $15 million that is spread across the state.

House Republican Leader Christine Drazan said Attorney General Dan Rayfield’s decision to not accept the grants was a political calculation.

“Oregon’s leaders must work together to preserve access to child abuse exams, safe housing for domestic violence survivors, and help for victims navigating the justice system,” the Canby Republican said in a statement, adding, “support for crime victims has never been partisan and it shouldn’t start now.”

But Oregon’s Attorney General Dan Rayfield pushed back on the notion, saying in a statement that “Trump is the only president that has ever tried to use victims of crime as a political tool to carry out his unpopular political agenda.”

The U.S. Department of Justice did not return a call or email seeking comment. The immigration rule appeared on page nine of a federal government document released last month describing the grant process this fiscal year. The U.S. DOJ does not appear to have issued a press release about the rule change, but federal officials have put sanctuary cities and jurisdictions on notice for months.

Despite the politics, for those at the ground level of this debate, it’s been unsettling.

When the email landed in Russell Mark’s inbox detailing the new requirements, he was shocked. Mark is the CEO of Juliette’s House, a child abuse intervention center in Yamhill County, and he said his organization will face deep cuts without the grant money. But, he said, he also felt strongly that building trust and confidentiality is integral to helping kids heal. He was worried that granting access to immigration enforcement agents in a space expected to be safe would only heighten children’s level of trauma.

“You’re talking about exposing children who are already deeply traumatized because they have been sexually or physically abused and coming here and now potentially exposing them to people being masked or wearing sidearms there to potentially take away members of their families,” Mark said.

One family’s story

When Lauren Simms’ life turned upside down, a child advocacy center funded by VOCA dollars helped her and her daughters survive and eventually heal.

Simms remembers a lot of details from the morning of April 12, 2017.

Life was good at the time. She was a stay-at-home mom with three young children living in a small Central Oregon town. She would joke that back then, she had a literal white picket fence.

Two of her girls attended the local elementary school. Her husband had a good job. They camped in the summers, ice skated in the winters and attended Girl Scout club meetings the rest of the year.

That April morning, the principal at the elementary school called and asked her to come to his office when she came to pick up her daughters. She figured he was going to ask her to volunteer for something. She was in a rush because one of her daughters had a doctor’s appointment. She remembers the friendly conversation with the front-desk receptionists.

Then a detective swung open the principal’s office door. He told her directly that her daughter had said her father had been sexually abusing her.

From there, everything was a blur.

The next day, Simms’s now ex-husband was charged with dozens of counts of child abuse.

Her world exploded. A few days later, Simms and her daughters were referred to what’s known as a child advocacy center. It was colorful and warm and welcoming. When they entered, each child was handed a blanket and a stuffed animal.

For years, it would be the place where Simms and her daughters would go for therapy, medical appointments, and help navigating their new reality — from help getting insurance to navigating the court system. Staff taught Simms about abuse and how to help her daughters heal.

The place, Simms said, “literally changed the entire trajectory of my daughter’s life.”

When OPB caught Simms on the phone, she was on a trip, taking her eldest daughter to college.

She graduated from high school with honors and has a full-ride scholarship to school. She plans to go into the medical field and is already a certified nursing assistant and emergency medical technician.

“She is incredible,” Simms said.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/08/15/oregon-federal-funding-dan-rayfield-sanctuary-state-politics-abuse/