Eugene police did nothing in violation of state or city sanctuary laws in their response to a July 1 protest of immigration enforcement activity at the downtown federal building, the city’s police auditor found.

“It does not appear that the Department assisted Immigration and Customs Enforcement in any manner,” the auditor’s office said in a statement posted online Monday, Sept. 22.

Hours after the protest, police said an unmarked vehicle was damaged as it attempted to exit the parking lot of the federal building, which houses an ICE office. A witness told Lookout Eugene-Springfield that perhaps a dozen of the roughly 40 people at the sidewalk protest attempted to block a vehicle.

Eugene police in their statement hours after the protest emphasized a hands-off approach with people at the event, but angry accounts from some at the demonstration sharply criticized officers as effectively helping ICE transport detainees.

While police responded to a request for assistance “from an outside agency,” the auditor concluded that “the Department is prohibited from certain actions but must still act to protect life and property.”

Sanctuary laws generally prohibit local and state police from helping to enforce federal immigration laws without a judge’s signed order. The auditor found that police taking a report about damage to a vehicle did not violate these sanctuary laws. Eugene police said on July 2 the vehicle belonged to ICE.

The auditor found that police “responded to the scene to gather additional details about the nature of the request,” then “declined to intervene and instead maintained a physical presence in the area for observation purposes and to ensure that they had a sufficient number of officers to respond in case they needed to exercise their obligation to ensure the safety of all of those present at the location.”

In Eugene, the police auditor is independent from the city’s police department and reports to the City Council.