Pierce County exec, sheriff at odds over working with immigration authorities
A Pierce County Council resolution to be voted on Tuesday affirming the county's position on limiting cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities reveals a brewing feud between the Democratic-majority council and the county's conservative sheriff.
The resolution would commit the county to fully complying with the Keep Washington Working Act, a bipartisan state law passed in 2019 that determined a person's immigration status isn't a matter for police action. The law was intended to give immigrants and refugees confidence that going to work or calling police for help in an emergency wouldn't land them in the custody of federal immigration enforcement.
The council's resolution also expresses support for a directive from County Executive Ryan Mello describing how county departments should interact with federal immigration officials.
'Residents must feel confident they can safely seek county services and assistance from all county departments,' Mello wrote in the directive.
Issued in March, the directive instructs county employees not to interfere with federal investigations but also to request to see a warrant if a federal official asks to inspect a non-public area of a county building. It asks employees to report interactions with federal law enforcement officers to a department representative.
Sheriff Keith Swank has said he thinks the Keep Washington Working Act is not constitutional, and, in a phone call with The News Tribune, he described feeling caught between federal directives to enforce immigration detainers and state law that forbids it. An immigration detainer is a request from federal immigration authorities to keep a person detained so federal authorities can take custody of them.
Since Swank began his term as sheriff on Jan. 1, he said, the Sheriff's Office hasn't received any detainers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He said the office had arrested a person for a violent crime this year who Swank said is an 'illegal alien.'
Earlier this month, Swank traveled to Washington, D.C., with other sheriffs from across Washington, including Adams County Sheriff Dale Wagner, who is in a legal battle with state Attorney General Nick Brown over allegedly helping federal authorities with immigration enforcement.
Swank said he went to Washington, D.C., to give moral support to Wagner and to bring what he sees as a conflict between state and federal law to the attention of the federal government. While in the capital, Swank and the other sheriffs met with representatives from the Department of Justice, including a brief meeting with Attorney General Pam Bondi.
'We need to get this resolved, and ultimately … my whole purpose of going there and still doing this stuff is to bring attention to the matter because I want to have it in front of the U.S. Supreme Court so they can rule once and for all what's what,' Swank said.
An equity note on the County Council's proposed resolution states that its intended to ensure all residents feel confident in their ability to seek county services and assistance without fear, noting that recent executive orders from President Donald Trump sow fear and concern among immigrants and refugees that they'll be targeted by federal law enforcement.
Bernal Baca is executive director of Mi Centro, a decades-old nonprofit in Tacoma that provides services to the Latino community. Baca provided a public comment on the resolution, calling it a 'crucial step' from the local government to ensure residents don't have to worry about being tricked when they renew their driver's license, show up for an appointment or other activities to live normal lives.
'Much of what President Trump has stated about his intentions is concerning, but what the administration has done so far to subvert due process and intimidate honest, hardworking, and god-fearing Americans is deplorable,' Baca said.
Swank doesn't agree with the argument that limiting cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities has the effect state law claims it does. He called it a fallacy.
'If people are in America legally, they have nothing to worry about calling 911,' Swank said. 'If they're here illegally and they call 911 because they're a victim of a crime, we're not going to be running their name to see if we can deport them. That doesn't happen.'
'We'll have our hands full in the meantime with violent criminals, citizens and noncitizens,' Swank added.
The County Council's resolution affirms that county property, personnel, funds and equipment can't be used to support federal immigration enforcement activities unless legally required.
Swank described the resolution as a 'broad overreach,' saying he doesn't think the County Council has the authority to impose those restrictions on his office. He also is displeased with the council for not asking for his input on the resolution.
'They do the budget, but they don't have control over how I run the Sheriff's Office,' Swank said. 'But I believe many people think that they should have that control or that they do. So that's kind of a little bit of the rub right there, too.'
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