Tensions are escalating between the federal government and so-called “sanctuary jurisdictions” like Washington state.
Last week, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter to seven governors and a number of mayors – including Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson and Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell – demanding the states cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
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Bondi has vaguely threatened lawsuits, a review of federal law enforcement funds that go to states, or even criminal charges for those “using their official position to obstruct federal immigration enforcement efforts.”
Ferguson shot back with a fiery letter Tuesday.
“In the America I love and have taught my children to revere, we resolve our differences peacefully through public discourse and, if necessary, through the courts,” Ferguson wrote, “not by threatening political opponents with imprisonment.”
A Washington state law passed during President Donald Trump’s previous term prohibits local police from asking about citizenship status in most cases, and generally prevents federal immigration authorities from accessing local jails and state prisons.
State Sen. Lisa Wellman, a Democrat representing Mercer Island, sponsored that legislation, called the “Keep Washington Working Act.” She argued at a press conference Tuesday that local police should focus on enforcing local laws – and the federal government can focus on Trump’s priorities.
“Do your damn job, and leave us the hell alone,” Wellman said.
When KUOW reached out to the Department of Justice for a response, a spokesperson for the attorney general pointed to a FOX Business interview on Monday during which Bondi threatened to cut off federal funding and send in the National Guard.
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“We are going to send in law enforcement just like we did during the L.A. riots, just like we’re doing here in Washington, D.C.,” Bondi said.
In a statement from the Washington State Republican Party, Chairman Jim Walsh said Democrats’ arguments that they should focus limited local law enforcement resources on enforcing local laws is a “false premise.”
“The Feds want access to prisons and jails in Washington state — access that Ferguson currently refuses them,” Walsh wrote.
Law enforcement can’t give federal authorities access to interview people in custody about “a civil immigration matter, unless required by a state or federal law applicable to the case or by a court order” or if the person in custody consents to the interview in writing, according to guidance from the state attorney general.
RELATED: Washington ‘sanctuary law’ allows ICE agents to pick up people leaving prison. They often don’t
Danieli Evans, who teaches constitutional law at University of Washington’s law school, said criminally charging Washington leadership would be hard. When Trump tried to pull funding from California and New York during his first term, some courts ruled he couldn’t and some ruled he could – but the issue was never resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court.
“There are these two different doctrines that are in kind of tight tension with each other,” Evans said. “This idea that federal law trumps state law, and then… the federal government isn’t allowed to commandeer or force state officers to enforce federal law.”
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