SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES

Dori: Why are our taxes funding (illegal) Immigrant Legal Defense Network?

Jun 11, 2019, 10:35 AM

homeless, immigrant legal defense fund...

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and King County Executive Dow Constantine shake hands after signing an agreement to centralize homeless services between the two governments in 2018. (KIRO 7)

(KIRO 7)

While the Seattle Police Department is still dramatically short of officers, Dow Constantine and Jenny Durkan announced that they have found an extra $5.6 million for a very important purpose. Is it to hire new cops? No — it’s to pay the attorney costs for illegal immigrants through the Expanded Seattle-King County Immigrant Legal Defense Network.

When Seattle and King County established the Immigrant Legal Defense Network two years ago, they said that since Trump is being mean to illegal immigrants — liberal-speak for “enforcing the law” — we are going to show our compassion and inclusiveness by paying for their legal defense. So it’s a legal defense fund for people here illegally. Sure, that makes sense.

Since then, they have spent almost $2 million in taxpayer funds and now they want $5.6 million more. Politicians want to make certain that after they sneak into our country illegally, they will have an anchor baby in the Puget Sound — a future progressive voter for life, who will continue to vote for the likes of Dow Constantine, Jenny Durkan, and Jay Inslee.

What a grand prioritization of tax dollars.

RELATED: Jenny Durkan cares more about illegal immigrants than homeless citizens

And Seattle is certainly getting on the socialists’ radar. Bernie Sanders just sent out this Tweet today.

Hey, Bernie — we had a lot of homeless drug addicts long before the head tax was ever brought up. The defeat of that tax didn’t lead to more homeless people on our streets. It is complete whack-job politics that have led to more homeless people on our streets.

And of course, next to the whack-job politics, the lack of cops is contributing to the homelessness, drugs, and crime on our streets. But as long as we continue to put millions toward the Immigrant Legal Defense Network instead of toward our police department, nothing will change.

A couple of weeks ago, an illegal immigrant tried to abduct a 14-year-old girl. A couple of months ago, an illegal immigrant murdered a sheriff’s deputy in Kittitas County. We have become a magnet destination for illegal immigrants with a criminal record who want protection.

A "Do Not Enter" sign is pictured on the fence at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Art...

Associated Press

Kennedy Center put off planned repairs despite known structural issues, former employees allege

Kennedy Center officials were long aware of serious structural issues that they cited as new problems after the abrupt decision to close the performing arts venue this month, a group of former employees allege in a letter to Congress. The center’s executive director and chief operating officer, Matt Floca, did not treat the roofing issues […]

40 minutes ago

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov of Russia speaks during the 81st session of the United Nations Gener...

Associated Press

German, Russian foreign ministers have rare meeting at UN

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The German and Russian foreign ministers met Saturday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, holding what’s believed to be the first such tête-à-tête since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The meeting came as tensions between the European Union and Russia rose — and just before Russian Foreign […]

1 hour ago

President Donald Trump disembarks Air Force one at McGhee Tyson Airport, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026, ...

Associated Press

CNN says it was left off Air Force One for Trump’s Saturday trip to a college football game

The White House left CNN off Air Force One for President Donald Trump’s trip Saturday to a college football game in Tennessee, marking the latest media restriction from the administration in an ongoing dispute with First Amendment implications. CNN, a member of the U.S. network video pool that rotates duties shooting and sharing video coverage […]

2 hours ago

Palau's President Surangel Whipps Jr. speaks during the 81st session of the United Nations General ...

Associated Press

‘We’re not giving up’: Beset by climate change, island nations act as conscience of a warming world

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — When Palau President Surangel Samuel Whipps Jr. recently took his children to his nation’s Helen Island, two-thirds of it was gone. Rising seas caused by climate change had swallowed generational burial grounds, washing away a people’s entire culture and identity. “For us, it’s devastating,” Whipps told The Associated Press on Friday, […]

3 hours ago

Chinese Vice President Han Zheng speaks during the 81st session of the United Nations General Assem...

Associated Press

China, as usual, uses UN speech to promote global development as solution to world’s challenges

NEW YORK (AP) — A day after his boss met with President Donald Trump in Washington, China’s vice president unfurled the nation’s familiar list of global talking points, emphasizing development, issuing mild statements about the U.S. war with Iran, artificial intelligence and protectionism, and making no direct mention of Taiwan. Han Zheng’s speech to the […]

3 hours ago

FILE - Michael Davis, of Bellwood, Ala., picks up a sign supporting Doug Jones for governor after a...

Associated Press

Southern Democrats see hope for first time in years, seek to build on discontent of midterm voters

DOTHAN, Ala. (AP) — People crowded shoulder to shoulder upstairs in a south Alabama coffee shop, in a region sometimes called the reddest in the heavily conservative state. They were there to hear Doug Jones, the Democratic nominee for governor and the last Democrat to hold statewide office in Alabama. “Alabama has been under Republican […]

6 hours ago

Dori: Why are our taxes funding (illegal) Immigrant Legal Defense Network?