TOLEDO, Oregon — The city council for the small Oregon coast city of Toledo planned to meet Wednesday to discuss a racist letter sent to several city leaders.
Toledo has a population just under 4,000 residents and is located outside of Newport. It's led by a guy who knows just about everyone — or so he thought.
Last week, Toledo Mayor Rod Cross got a shock in his mailbox at home, with a letter entitled "The Brown Round Up, Part One."
"If you see a bunch of brown folks getting in a car, write down the plate number," it read, in part. "... Starting the last part of January 2025, this nation will commence the largest roundup of brown illegals in our history."
It continues on, explaining how to "help" that effort. "For example, parking in a church parking lot and taking down license plates and car makes and models of folks that are brown (as well as at) schools as you wait in line to pick up the kiddos or the grandkids. If you see brown folks, record the plate number."
Cross said the letter was sent to his home and the homes of other members of the Toledo City Council.
"I'm a proud American veteran. And this country does not stand for that," he said.
With a sigh, Cross recalled, "I'm like, 'Is this a joke going on?'"
Though the letter had a Portland post office stamp, the P.O. box on the return address is fake.
It showed up in the mailbox of Lincoln City Mayor Susan Wahlke, who said it's been turned over to Lincoln City police.
"I want people to know that Lincoln City is an inclusive and welcoming community," she told KGW.
Lincoln County said, "Our commission and our office are disgusted by and reject this call for wholesale racial targeting."
"I think small towns were targeted. I think the targeted places that they thought there might be a receptive audience," Cross said. "I also think that they targeted small towns because of, to be honest, our lack of resources to investigate this."
Cross added that the whole thing came as a surprise: "In Lincoln County, I don't think I've ever had a conversation about illegal immigration, and I've lived in Lincoln County for 28 years. So, this was this was striking to me because I don't hear anything about this from even our constituents."
But the letters come as President-elect Donald Trump promises "the largest mass deportation program in history" when he takes office for his second term in January, while his incoming border czar, Tom Homan, is already making plans to mobilize federal agents.
However, Oregon and Washington are sanctuary states; state law prevents local jails from working with federal immigration enforcement.
Cross said he understands how broken the U.S. immigration system is, but he said if someone has a concern, he wants to hear from them.
"Our residents, my number one goal is to keep them safe," he said.