The House Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Washington Attorney General Nick Brown demanding information about the state’s sanctuary laws.
According to the committee, Washington “not only actively thwarts federal immigration enforcement, but it also targets local law enforcement officials for complying with federal law,” the letter says.
“Under Washington’s sanctuary laws, state and local law enforcement agencies are prohibited from asking about a person’s immigration status, from providing personal information about criminal aliens to federal immigration officials, and from continuing to detain criminal aliens so that federal officials are able to take the aliens into custody,” House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH), Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Chairman Tom McClintock (R-CA), and Representative Michael Baumgartner (R-WA) wrote.
“Washington law also requires that law enforcement provide criminal aliens with numerous warnings about cooperating with immigration officials and forbids jurisdictions from entering into immigration enforcement cooperation agreements with the federal government,” they wrote, criticizing the policy. “As a result, there appears to be ‘little or no interaction’ between Washington law enforcement entities and federal immigration authorities.”
“Washington’s sanctuary law shields criminal aliens in the United States at the expense of American citizens and legal immigrants,” the lawmakers argued, noting that “sanctuary policies all but guarantee that dangerous criminal aliens can be released back into American communities instead of being arrested by ICE and removed from the country.”
The letter follows Brown’s office filing a lawsuit against Adams County, arguing that the county’s sheriff’s office is “illegally collaborating with federal immigration officials and aiding the Trump administration’s efforts to enlist local officials for federal civil immigration work.”
Sheriff Dale Wagner responded to the lawsuit by stating that his “top priority is ensuring the safety and security of our residents,” calling the filing a “disappointing attempt to hinder our ability to uphold public safety.”
