Since the Trump administration has granted Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency officers disturbing leeway to arrest or detain people, two Washington lawmakers are seeking to protect Washington residents from such a strategy.
Sponsored by Democratic state Sens. Drew Hansen of Bainbridge Island and Javier Valdez of Seattle, Senate Bill 5906 would expand protections Washingtonians have under the Keep Washington Working Act. The bill deserves bipartisan support.
While the act protects elementary and secondary students and their parents from having their immigration status shared with federal agents, the new bill, called the Secure and Accountable Federal Enforcement Act, or SAFE Act, would require immigration enforcement officers to present a judicial warrant, judicial subpoena or court order to enter nonpublic areas of day care or early learning centers, K-12 schools, colleges and hospitals. The bill also bans early learning providers from collecting information or documents regarding immigration or citizenship status of students or their family members. In addition, it spells out the protocol for schools, hospitals, day care and early learning centers for reporting attempts by immigration officials to access those locations.
“We want people to go to school, work at a day care, and go see a doctor without looking over their shoulder and wondering if ICE is going to come pick them up without a warrant,” Hansen said in a news release.
Daily news media and social media accounts depict some of the aggressive means officers use in meeting the national goal of 3,000 arrests each day.
Nationally, adults have been yanked from cars on their way to work and school, and even arrested on their way to or from immigration hearings.
In October, ICE agents in Issaquah stopped the owner of a day care center and asked for her documents. According to KUOW, she produced her REAL ID and her passport. This happened one week after a parent dropping off her child at the same center was arrested and put in detention after ICE followed her to the center.
A few other states have already passed similar laws. In today’s turbulent political climate, such protections are needed, including in Washington.
