By Carolyn Bick
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
Joined by several organizations and officials, including the Asian Counselling and Referral Service, state Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos, and Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell, Gov. Bob Ferguson spoke out in an Aug. 19 press conference against a threatening letter Ferguson received from United States Attorney General Pam Bondi.
The letter received late last week was, in effect, a form letter sent to several other states and officials. In it, Bondi labelled Washington a “so-called sanctuary jurisdiction, and took issue with Washington’s policies concerning immigration.
Bondi threatened that officials in Washington use “their official position to obstruct federal immigration enforcement efforts … may be subject to criminal charges.” In other words, she threatened to arrest officials who don’t, as Ferguson said, “bend the knee to a Trump administration that day by day drags us closer to authoritarianism.”
She also alleged that Washington is in violation of federal law, due to state-specific policies and laws that limit law enforcement cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
This is incorrect. States are empowered to have their own laws separate from the federal government, because of a concept known as federalism, which is established in the U.S. Constitution.
While her letter did not reference any particular act or policy, Ferguson said he believes Bondi’s letter was specifically referring to the Keep Washington Working Act (KWW), which limits cooperation between law enforcement and ICE agents.
State Sen. Lisa Wellman (D-Mercer Island) is the prime sponsor of KWW. She said that the state’s economy would be jeopardized without the act, because of the many immigrants who keep the state’s agricultural industry moving.
Ferguson said that Bondi’s letter had no legal merit at all.
But while there is no legal merit to the letter, Wellman expressed concern about the fact that the federal government appears to be doing whatever it wants, anyway—even if immigrants are here legally.
She spoke about an Indian-born CEO, who, while jogging in his neighborhood in Bellevue, was picked up by ICE agents. ICE subsequently “disappeared [him] for five days,” Wellman said, and when he came back, he decided to leave.
“[He] sold his house in Bellevue and has moved back to his country of origin,” Wellman said. “We’re seeing that.”
Several Asian immigrants in Washington with up-to-date green cards have already been detained this year.
Malou Chávez, executive director of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, pointed to the federal government’s $170 billion in discretionary funds that are being put towards mass detention and mass deportation of all immigrant communities, not just undocumented immigrants. This appears to be increasingly happening without due process, which is unconstitutional.
“We are witnessing the erosion of fundamental rights and protections through these changes in laws, policies, and judicial interpretations, which in turn weaken legal frameworks that safeguard individual freedoms, limit access to justice, and reduce protections against government overreach,” she said. “And they’re afraid that they will be ultimately deported to countries where many of them will suffer further torture or potential death.”
Two weeks ago, she said, the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma was nearly at capacity, holding 1,560 people of its 1,575-person capacity. Recent reports have noted that the conditions inside the center are abominable and inhumane.