The United States Attorney for the District of Oregon, Karin J. Immergut, announced Wednesday that the U.S. Attorney's Office's public website has been updated with a Civil Rights Complaint Form, providing the citizens of Oregon with a resource for voicing concerns about civil rights violations.
The form can be accessed at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/or/CivilRightsEnforcement.html. In order to provide citizens a central location for information about criminal complaints of violations of federal laws, the website has also been updated to include web links to the federal law enforcement agencies which investigate violations of federal criminal laws.
Allegations of criminal civil rights violations are investigated by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI), which works closely with the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice to assure that appropriate cases are prosecuted.
In addition, the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Civil Rights Division coordinate the enforcement of federal civil rights statutes prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, sex, disability, religion, and national origin. These statutes, which are primarily enforced through civil remedies, include the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Fair Housing Act, the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act, the Equal Educational Opportunities Act, the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act, and the Voting Rights Act. These statutes reflect some of the United States' highest ideals and aspirations: equal treatment and equal justice under law.
Further, these statutes are commonly investigated by an administrative agency prior
to involvement of the U.S. Department of Justice or U.S. Attorney's Office.
Three Assistant U.S. Attorneys are assigned to handle civil rights matters throughout the District of Oregon. If a citizen submits a completed form to the U.S. Attorney's Office, an attorney will determine if a potential civil rights violation has occurred and which law enforcement or administrative agency would be best suited to handle the concern raised in the complaint.
For more information, please contact Assistant U.S. Attorney Adrian Brown at (503)
727-1003.