Republican gubernatorial candidate Knute Buehler says he plans to vote for an initiative this fall that would repeal Oregon's 30-year-old sanctuary state law.

"We need to have coordination and collaboration between local law enforcement and federal law enforcement," Buehler told conservative talk radio show host Lars Larson on Monday. "People who are here and committing crimes, there needs to be that kind of coordination and communication [with federal immigration authorities]. It is common sense."

Buehler's support for Initiative Petition 22, first reported by Oregon Public Broadcasting, is notable because he has made a point of taking a moderate stance on other hot-button issues including abortion rights and renewable energy, while hewing to traditional Republican positions on issues such as taxes.

Buehler is running against the Democratic incumbent, Gov. Kate Brown.

Brown supports Oregon's sanctuary law. In 2017, she doubled down on it by issuing an executive order barring employees at all state agencies from helping the federal government find or apprehend immigrants without legal status.

Brown also signed a law passed last year by Democratic lawmakers, House Bill 3464, which expanded the sanctuary law. It passed without a single Republican vote and forbids courts, schools and other governments in the state from sharing residents' addresses or workplace locations with federal immigration authorities unless legally required to do so.

Oregon's 1987 sanctuary law prohibits state and local law enforcement from using public resources to arrest people whose only violation of the law is being in the country illegally, which is a civil offense rather than a crime. Testimony on the bill showed it was intended to prevent law enforcement from using immigration regulations to harass or profile people based on their race, The Oregonian/OregonLive has reported.

Over the years, Oregon law enforcement agencies have taken different approaches to implementing the law. Multnomah County follows the strictest interpretation, which factored into the Sheriff's Office releasing Mexican immigrant Sergio Martinez from jail without notifying federal authorities. Martinez, who had a criminal record spanning three states and a history of entering the country illegally, subsequently assaulted two women for which he was sentenced to 35 years in prison. The case drew national attention to Oregon's sanctuary law.

The anti-sanctuary state initiative, which qualified for the ballot earlier this month, was spearheaded by three Republican legislators, Rep. Mike Nearman of Independence, Rep. Sal Esquivel of Medford and Rep. Greg Barreto of Cove. Two organizations that helped get the initiative on the ballot, Oregonians for Immigration Reform and the Federation for American Immigration Reform, are listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as anti-immigrant hate groups.

Buehler did say if Oregon repeals its sanctuary law, the state needs "to preserve the fact that when people are victims, that they feel safe coming to talk to law enforcement."

The state also needs to prevent racial profiling by law enforcement, Buehler said. "I think we've done that over the last several years in the Legislature."

Buehler was among the lawmakers who voted in 2015 to pass House Bill 2002, which required law enforcement agencies to adopt policies prohibiting profiling. In 2017, he voted against House Bill 2355, which ultimately became law and requires law enforcement agencies to report data on officer-initiated traffic and pedestrian stops.

—Hillary Borrud

503-294-4034; @hborrud