Oregon’s status as a Sanctuary State is playing a role in a murder investigation.
Martin Gallo-Gallardo is accused of killing his wife and dumping her body near Camp Namanu in the Sandy area.
Earlier this year, Gallo-Gallardo was accused of assault against his wife and daughter. When they declined to testify against him he was released.
Immigrations and Customs Enforcement says before Gallo-Gallardo was released from jail they sent the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office notice of a civil detainer against Gallo-Gallardo. ICE released a copy of the fax transmission statement used for the document. Multnomah County Sheriff Mike Reese says it shows not all of the pages were received and there was an error. Reese says they never received the document.
The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office released the following statement:
ICE is putting our community at risk with their failed enforcement strategy of not using the authority the agency already has to hold people accountable.
No Oregon jail can hold someone on a civil detainer based on the federal court case Miranda Oliveras v. Clackamas County. The U.S. Attorney’s Office knows this, ICE knows this, but they persist in pursuing this failed strategy. Federal officials had ample time to do their job. They had his name, address, and his telephone number.
It is disingenuous to make this claim when they failed to follow the process for even entering the civil detainer information into any law enforcement database. MCSO wants to make clear that we did not receive any information from ICE regarding this individual.
Local police, corrections professionals, and the District Attorney did their best to hold this person accountable for his domestic violent assault -- including taking the case to a grand jury. However, we were unable to hold him accountable without the cooperation of the victim.
We do not know why she did not cooperate, but we know that many immigrant victims of domestic violence are concerned about how reporting will affect their status and status their children. This a terrible tragedy for her and her children. We remain committed to building a relationship of trust with immigrant communities so they feel comfortable sharing their story. Public safety needs to be for all.