City of Tacoma affirms support for immigrants, LGBTQ+ people. Are resolutions enough?
The move Tuesday came after the Tacoma Police Department announced in January it has no agreements with ICE and would comply with state regulation, which says local police do not enforce civil federal immigration laws. Tacoma police officers also will not inquire into a person's immigration status unless it is connected to a criminal investigation, and school resource officers cannot investigate or collect information about a person's immigration status nor provide immigration information to authorities for enforcement, as previously reported by The News Tribune.
According to Resolution 41627, which affirmed support for immigrants, more than 12% of people living in the city of Tacoma were born outside of the United States as of 2022, and nearly 20% speak a language other than English at home. Immigrants make up 15% of Washington's population and 19% of its labor force and are responsible for 21% of the state's gross domestic product, according to the Washington State Budget and Policy Center.
About 100 people crowded the council chambers Tuesday, many standing and overflowing into another room, said city spokesperson Maria Lee, who was present. The crowd erupted in cheers after the passage of each resolution.
In January the Olympia City Council declared Olympia the state's first sanctuary city for transgender and LGBTQ+ people. The resolution approved by the Tacoma City Council this week didn't include any 'sanctuary city' language. Council member Olgy Diaz, who was the main sponsor of Tacoma's resolution told The News Tribune on Thursday she was inspired by Olympia's resolution and used it as a basis for Tacoma's.
Substitute resolution 41628 affirmed the city's commitment to ensuring all individuals regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity 'feel safe and supported' and reaffirmed the city's commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.
The council embraced Washington's Law Against Discrimination and authorized the city attorney to prosecute violations as a gross misdemeanor 'should someone intentionally or recklessly interfere with individuals' right to access a health care facility to seek gender affirming care,' according to the resolution.
It also affirmed individuals' rights to seek access to restrooms, locker rooms, dressing rooms and homeless or emergency shelters 'that are consistent with that individual's gender expression or identity,' engage in expression supporting LGBTQ+ people, including through books, literature, arts and drag performance, and seek housing, employment and public accommodation 'without discrimination, harassment or prejudice against one's gender expression/identity of LGBTQIA2S+ familial structures.'
The resolution states that no city resources, including city property or employee time, 'shall be used for investigation, assisting an investigation, arrest or prosecution' of anyone exercising those rights. In the event that any law or regulation passed in Washington would impose criminal punishment, civil liability, administrative penalties or professional sanctions on an individual or organization exercising their rights, 'the City Manager will be directed to make enforcement of said law or regulation to be among the City's lowest enforcement priorities,' the resolution continues.
Diaz said in bringing the resolution forward she wanted to show the community what protections Tacoma already has in place to support LGBTQ+ people because, 'it's easy to get lost ... because we're so overwhelmed by fear and anxiety.'
Washington already has protections for access to reproductive health care and gender-affirming care, in addition to laws about what information the state can share with the federal government when prosecuting immigrants, so Diaz said this was something city councilors could do within their power at the local level.
Council members Diaz, Sandesh Sadalge, Joe Bushnell, Sarah Rumbaugh, John Hines and mayor Victoria Woodards spoke glowingly of the resolutions and said in passing them the community would know the city has their backs and celebrates their contributions to society.
But City Council member Jamika Scott raised concerns about the true protective nature of the resolutions.
Before she voted in favor of the LGBTQ+ resolution, Scott said she felt 'very deeply troubled and uncomfortable celebrating as people continue to face real risk and danger.'
'Language can evoke a lot of things. They can evoke excitement, fear, joy, anger, etc. And my concern is that these resolutions tonight have the ability to create a false hope, leading our constituents to believe that the City Council has more power to protect them than it truly does,' she said. 'Though we really want to protect you all, we are limited in what we can do. And we have to be honest about the dangers that marginalized people and communities face. And this resolution does not shield anyone from federal legislation, not in the real sense, nor does it fully eradicate the everyday discrimination that too many of us continue to endure.'
Scott said the council must be transparent that the policies it passes 'can be overwritten' or 'dismissed entirely by people who do not value the rights that we seek to uphold' or have their own agendas.
'History shows us that words alone have never stopped oppression. Words did not stop all of the violence, erasure, discrimination and gaslighting endured by non-dominant communities long before this moment we're in today. Words did not stop Nazis or the Confederacy. Words don't stop violent coups and they don't stop oligarchs. Action does,' she said. 'Find comfort in the words and the resolutions that are being presented and will hopefully be passed tonight, but please do not rest. Please reflect on what individual responsibility we all bear in keeping ourselves and each other safe, and how we can share in that scary and wonderful burden together. Because real change, the kind that swells up rather than trickles down, does not come from government alone. It comes from a community committed to action.'
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