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Local authorities in Washington will not be allowed to ask questions about a person's immigration status under a new "sanctuary" policy that extends similar requirements already in effect. for state agencies.
Governor Jay Inslee, a Democrat, signed the measure on Wednesday, aligning his state with that of California and Oregon by applying some of the country's strictest sanctuary policies, the Associated Press reported.
"Our state agencies are not immigration control agencies," said Inslee, who is also running for president. "We will not be complicit with the trumped-up efforts of the Trump administration to dismember hard-working immigrant and refugee families."
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Under the new rules, police officers will not be able to question the immigration status of a person, except in limited circumstances. Attorney General Bob Ferguson will be responsible for developing rules for courthouses, hospitals and government-run facilities where federal immigration officers are looking for illegal immigrants.
Republican Senator Phil Fortunato said the law was hampering police efforts to treat people living illegally in the country.
"This puts not only in danger the application of the law, but also the private citizens," he said.
Most police interactions involve law enforcement authorities in cities and counties, said Lena Graber, a lawyer with the San Francisco-based Immigrant Legal Resource Center. The signing of the bill on Wednesday expands Inslee's 2017 decree which imposed similar provisions on state agencies, which, according to immigration advocates, was not going away. far enough.
Graber said the bill would give Washington "the country's strongest and most comprehensive law on sanctuary in the country."
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Five other states – Connecticut, Illinois, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Vermont – have similar policies against cooperation between local and federal law enforcement agencies for investigations. non-criminal immigration.
Oregon adopted the first nationwide sanctuary policy in 1987. This policy has prohibited the police from spending resources to prosecute anyone illegally residing in the country if it does not. had committed no crime beyond.
In 2017, California approved a measure requiring authorities to obtain written permission from people arrested to allow them to be interviewed by immigration officers.
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Senator Lisa Wellman, co-sponsor of the bill, voiced concerns about areas that have relied primarily on immigrant labor, such as hospitality and technology in the area. 39; agriculture.
"We have 30% of Microsoft here with visas," said Wellman, a Democrat, before a public hearing on the bill in the state's Legislature earlier this year. "You can not open a hotel if you do not have immigrants at the back of the house."
Associated Press contributed to this report.
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