Washington state AG sues Adams County over immigration enforcement

The state of Washington filed a lawsuit against the Adams County Sheriff’s Office and Adams County on Monday for violating the Keep Washington Working Act, which established the state as a sanctuary for undocumented immigrants.

Attorney General Nick Brown argues in the complaint that the Adams County Sheriff’s Office, since at least 2022, has been “consistently engaged in several practices that violate state law.”

The lawsuit alleges that deputies have “unlawfully held people in custody based solely on their immigration status” and “have gone out of their way to enable federal immigration agents to interview or question people in custody, including transporting people in county vehicles expressly for that purpose.” Brown further alleges that the Adams County Sheriff’s Office shared the personal information of hundreds of Washingtonians with immigration officials, in violation of the state sanctuary law.

“Washington has the right and the responsibility to decide for itself how to use its own resources to keep residents safe and the economy strong,” the lawsuit says. “The State cannot stand by when elected officials publicly boast that they are breaking state law and putting their own communities at risk.”

This conflict is not new

The conflict over the Adams County Sheriff’s Office’s alleged conduct and the Keep Washington Working Act has been ongoing for months.

Last year, the Washington Attorney General’s Office said it was “engaged in good faith settlement negotiations” with the Adams County Sheriff’s Office.

However, Sheriff Dale Wagner started working with America First Legal (AFL) to stop the state from an allegedly “unlawful and abusive effort by Washington state officials to enforce illegal and dangerous sanctuary laws and policies and compel Adams County to violate federal immigration laws.”

“To protect American citizens and our Constitution, Adams County is standing up in opposition to this egregious abuse of state power,” AFL said in a February press release. “AFL is defending Adams County so that state officials and their anti-American open-border allies may not bully, coerce, or compel pro-American communities with dangerous sanctuary laws and policies that shield criminal illegal aliens and endanger law-abiding citizens.”

AFL contends that sanctuary state policies are illegal. Brown says AFL’s founder, Donald Trump aide Stephen Miller, “has repeatedly denigrated immigrant families and dismissed the essential role immigrants play in supporting our communities and local economy.”

The attorney general’s lawsuit was filed in Spokane County Superior Court.

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