Federal immigration enforcement by ICE and the role of local law enforcement is a subject of contentious debate in Washington. This meeting displays how a civil adult conversation should sound. As Adams County Sheriff Dale Wagner mentions, town hall meetings that turn into unpleasant shouting matches are useful to no one. It was at one such town hall where I met Sheriff Wagner and invited him to the Central/Eastern Washington Braver Angels Alliance.
We had questions of curiosity and were delighted to host Sheriff Wagner for conversation at the regular third Wednesday Alliance meeting on March 19. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend due to a family emergency, but am so very glad my co-host Byron Odion prepared this recording for distribution.
Background Information
Included below is a pre-read included with the meeting invitation. It was provided by Lincoln County Sheriff Gabe Gants, who sent the information along with his regrets for not being able to attend due to a scheduling conflict. Published with his permission.
The federal and state governments have been on a direct collision course for years. We saw this sort of kick off with the state legalizing marijuana which remains a federal crime. We have also encountered this with gun law legislation. The Supremacy Clause of the constitution establishes that the federal constitution and federal law generally, take precedence over state laws. A state is allowed to have laws more restrictive than federal laws, but cannot have laws that are least restrictive.
Immigration laws are enforced by the federal government as they are federal laws. While local law enforcement does take an oath to uphold federal law, we typically would forward cases involving federal offenses to the appropriate federal enforcement agency and assist them as needed . In the past if we came across someone who was not a legal citizen we would detain that person and call ICE who would then handle the matter. Lincoln County has had very few encounters over the years and I can really only think of one incident over the last 21 years in which we called ICE for this type of situation. We are also a lot less diverse than other counties which probably plays into having very few encounters with these types of issues.
In 2019, The Washington State legislature passed the “Keep Washington Working Act”. This act prohibits local and state law enforcement officers from detaining a person based solely on immigration status. It also prohibits state law enforcement from being deputized to enforce immigration laws which are federal.
The President is now deputizing local and state law enforcement officers to assist ICE in their mission, but Washington State law clearly prohibits this. The state law even prohibits local law enforcement from contacting ICE about immigration status or information sharing on such a topic.
So we have a federal law in direct conflict with a state law and both sides believe they are right. The result of this is we have law enforcement officers who took an oath to enforce local, state, and federal laws stuck in the middle of this clash of governments. It has been apparent for years that this battle would ultimately end up in court and the recent Adams County lawsuit by the state AG appears to be the mechanism to decide this matter.
As things sit currently, if an officer in this state comes across a person who has not committed a crime (other than not being in the US legally) they are supposed to let the person go and take no further action. If the person is detained or arrest for a state law, they can be booked into jail, but state law would still prohibit law enforcement from contacting federal officials who would have jurisdiction over that particular matter.
I offer an observation from a student of history standpoint. The last time our country was as divided as it currently is would probably be the period of time leading up to the civil war. We have states rebelling against our federal government and laws by creating their own counter laws to address their views. Political views run deep on both sides of the aisle and we appear to be living in a time when neither one wishes to find common ground.
Ultimately, this issue will most likely end up being decided in the US Supreme Court, but what happens to this country when one side is then declared the victor? Will the other one listen or will the conflict continue to build?
Additional information links:
Braver Angels National: https://braverangels.org/
Braver Angels of Washington State: https://wa.braverangels.org/
Keep Washington Working, from the Office of the WA Attorney General: https://www.atg.wa.gov/keep-washington-working-act-faq-law-enforcement
Washington State Sheriffs’ Association: https://washeriffs.org/
Adams County Jail Roster App Link (mentioned by Sheriff Wagner): https://www.co.adams.wa.us/government/jail_roster_and_booking_information/index.php
General background on the lawsuit filed by Attorney General Nick Brown: https://www.thecentersquare.com/washington/article_f65bb552-fdde-11ef-8b0a-c7f17c145e70.html
(Disclosure: I write freelance articles for The Center Square, which positions itself as a right of center counterpoint to the left of center Associated Press. Both news systems strive for accuracy, the bias creeps in primarily thru the questions asked or not asked, who or what was used as a primary source, language conventions and sometimes choice of story. Media bias is a large subject for another day!)
Spokane County Superior Court – for tracking status of lawsuit: https://cp.spokanecounty.org/courtdocumentviewer/PublicViewer/SCCivilHearingByDefendantName.aspx?CaseNumber=2520121232
(The court documents will be available online with some digging. The AG posts its filings, sometimes news sources provide links to the documents at each stage as they report on the progress in the case.)
Credits:
Audio by Byron Odion
Photo by Illumination Marketing on Unsplash
Transcript generated by Substack AI: First time using this feature, we’ll see how it goes!
Share this post