Governor won’t let state help enforce fed immigration plan. Via the Associated Press:
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed an executive order Thursday that seeks to ensure state resources are not used to enforce federal immigration policies.
Inslee said his order reaffirms the state’s commitment to tolerance and clarifies that state workers’ roles are to provide services for residents, not to ascertain their immigration status.
“This executive order makes clear that Washington will not be a willing participant in promoting or carrying out mean-spirited policies,” Inslee said.
President Donald Trump has said he wants to expand the number of deportations of people in the country illegally. The administration announced Tuesday that any immigrant in the country illegally who is charged with or convicted of any offense, or even suspected of a crime, will now be an enforcement priority.
The three-page order signed Thursday by Inslee notes immigrants’ economic impact on the state, stating undocumented immigrants made up nearly 5 percent of the state’s workforce in 2012, paying more than $301 million in state and local taxes.
“If all undocumented immigrants were removed from the state, the state would lose $14.5 billion in economic activity, $6.4 billion in gross revenue and approximately 71,197 jobs,” the order reads.
The order says the Washington State Patrol and state agencies with arrest powers cannot detain people who are in the United States illegally but have not broken other laws.
Inslee said that the order does not interfere with federal law, saying that if there is a federal criminal arrest warrant, “we will honor it.”
But he said that the state will not collect data on state residents “beyond what is legally required or necessary to carry out specific agency duties.”
“We will remain a state that doesn’t utilize state employees as agents of the federal immigration services,” he said.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed an executive order Thursday that seeks to ensure state resources are not used to enforce federal immigration policies.
Inslee said his order reaffirms the state’s commitment to tolerance and clarifies that state workers’ roles are to provide services for residents, not to ascertain their immigration status.
“This executive order makes clear that Washington will not be a willing participant in promoting or carrying out mean-spirited policies,” Inslee said.
President Donald Trump has said he wants to expand the number of deportations of people in the country illegally. The administration announced Tuesday that any immigrant in the country illegally who is charged with or convicted of any offense, or even suspected of a crime, will now be an enforcement priority.
The three-page order signed Thursday by Inslee notes immigrants’ economic impact on the state, stating undocumented immigrants made up nearly 5 percent of the state’s workforce in 2012, paying more than $301 million in state and local taxes.
“If all undocumented immigrants were removed from the state, the state would lose $14.5 billion in economic activity, $6.4 billion in gross revenue and approximately 71,197 jobs,” the order reads.
The order says the Washington State Patrol and state agencies with arrest powers cannot detain people who are in the United States illegally but have not broken other laws.
Inslee said that the order does not interfere with federal law, saying that if there is a federal criminal arrest warrant, “we will honor it.”
But he said that the state will not collect data on state residents “beyond what is legally required or necessary to carry out specific agency duties.”
“We will remain a state that doesn’t utilize state employees as agents of the federal immigration services,” he said.