King County puts ICE on ice

THE METROPOLITAN King County Council voted 5-4 in early December to limit its cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Prior to the vote, King County had honored ICE requests to extend the detention of immigrants, no matter how minor the crime they were arrested for. The new legislation limits extended detention to "serious" and "mid-level" crimes, such as assault and burglary.

"The goal of this legislation is public safety, and when you have a significant portion of the community...afraid to engage with law enforcement to report crimes, that puts us all at risk," said King County Council member Julia Patterson. "This policy allows for that trust between our communities and law enforcement, which I believe makes us all safer."

Even though the council's stated intention is to "enhance law enforcement," this is a victory for immigrant rights, albeit a limited one. Immigrants found guilty of even minor infractions must not only serve the typical sentence, but also face deportation. This can mean being "sent back" to a country that people who have spent nearly all their lives in the U.S. don't remember, and where the language is one they don't understand. This also breaks up families and can leave children who are U.S. citizens without their parents.

The new legislation means that at least those arrested for minor offenses have less to fear. It follows a 2009 law adopted by King County in 2009 making county services available to all residents, regardless of immigration status. In spite of being consistent with county policy and garnering the support of the sheriff's office, the law almost didn't pass.

Undocumented immigrants face many kinds of discrimination, including barriers to education, housing and job training. And because they must always be concerned about the potential of being deported, undocumented workers are often reluctant to demand their rights on the job. The criminal injustice system is one of the prime enemies of undocumented workers.

The new law is in part the result of ongoing agitation for immigrant rights. Since 2006, Seattle has seen mass marches on May Day, and in 2006, this included strikes, as it did in the rest of the country.

The campaign for this legislation took a long time and was backed by many community groups including the No New Jim Crow Seattle Campaign (NNJCSC), which has made support for immigrant rights a key part of its opposition to mass incarceration.

Commenting on the new law, NNJCSC member Mary Patterson said:

It says a lot about the extreme lack of basic human compassion in America that King County Council's ICE Detainer Ordinance is considered one of the strongest such ordinances in the country. So ICE still has a cold grip on immigrant-residents of King County.

But it's also true that its grip has been weakened by this ordinance and that there will likely be fewer immigrant detentions and deportations from King County as a result, which is hugely important for anyone who might not have otherwise remained here. It's a start. Many people came out to tell their stories to the county council. Awareness of the problem has been raised. The ordinance brings some relief.