WA sues Adams Co. for assisting federal immigration enforcement

WA sues Adams County for assisting federal immigration enforcement

Washington Attorney General Nick Brown has filed a lawsuit against the Adams County Sheriff's Office, accusing them of illegally collaborating with federal immigration officials.

SEATTLE - Washington State is suing Adams County for enforcing the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, arguing it violates state law.

Washington Attorney General Nick Brown filed the lawsuit in Spokane County Superior Court on Monday, alleging that the Adam's County Sheriff's Office has illegally detained people, helped federal agents question people in custody, and "routinely" gave agents confidential information on hundreds of state residents.

The Attorney General's Office says all of this "expressly violates state law."

Washington immigration enforcement

Timeline:

According to the AGO, Washington does not interfere with federal immigration enforcement—but says the 2019 Keep Washington Working Act prevents local police from actively helping them.

That act passed the Legislature with bipartisan support; the reasoning being that if local police and sheriffs were aiding with federal immigration enforcement, victims of crimes would be reluctant to report them.

Brown alleges that Adams County officials about-faced on negotiations with the state once Trump returned to office in January.

What they're saying:

"Late last year, Adams County was engaged in good-faith settlement negotiations with our office," Brown said. "But after the inauguration of Donald Trump, the county and its Sheriff’s Office suddenly hardened their stance, broke off settlement talks, and aligned themselves with an organization founded by a top Trump aide who is among the most virulent anti-immigrant voices in the administration."

The county retained attorneys from America First Legal, an organization founded by Trump's homeland security advisor, Stephen Miller.

Brown says Miller has shaped some of the Trump administration's most controversial immigration policies: "He has repeated white nationalist talking points and is responsible for shaping some of the Trump administration’s most draconian immigration policies, including the infamous family separation policy during the first Trump administration."

"Washington has the right and the responsibility to decide for itself how to use its own resources to keep residents safe and the economy strong," the lawsuit reads. "The State cannot stand by when elected officials publicly boast that they are breaking state law and putting their own communities at risk."

The Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs has repeatedly written that the aim of local law enforcement is only on criminal violations, not federal immigration work.

"Rather than do the federal government’s job — and absorb the uncompensated fiscal, legal, operational, and community-confidence costs that would come with it — the Keep Washington Working Act (KWW) ensures that Washington’s limited law enforcement resources are best spent enforcing state law, solving crime, and helping ensure the state remains ‘a place where the rights and dignity of all residents are maintained and protected in order to keep Washington working,’" reads the lawsuit.

The Source: Information in this story comes from the Attorney General's Office, and the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs.