Portland Rolls Out Paid “Immigration Leave”

The City of Portland has officially rolled out a new taxpayer-funded benefit: paid “Immigration, Naturalization, and Citizenship Leave” Human Resources Administrative Rule (HRAR) 6.15.

City officials have now committed public funds to cover paid leave for immigration court proceedings—including deportation hearings while blocking basic oversight, all while the city is facing a $66 million shortfall.

As of January 1, 2026, city workers in Portland, Oregon, can now clock out for up to 40 hours a year — without losing pay or benefits — to deal with immigration-related legal matters for themselves or for family members.

Eligible employees may use this leave for activities such as:

Obtaining legal support or meeting with immigration or criminal defense attorneys
Attending interviews or tests related to naturalization or citizenship
Appearing at state or federal criminal court proceedings
Deportation hearings
Matters involving “unlawful detention” related to immigration status.
For the first 40 hours each year, this leave is paid and coded in the payroll system as IMLV, with the employee remaining on regular payroll the entire time.

The policy does not stop with the employee.

HRAR 6.15 explicitly allows this paid leave to be used to support:

A spouse
A child
A parent
A sibling
Or anyone with a “close association” equivalent to family.
Perhaps the most controversial aspect of the policy is its strict privacy mandate.

Under HRAR 6.15, supervisors and managers are prohibited from asking about or collecting information related to:

An employee’s immigration status
Citizenship status
Country of birth