Politics

Seattle wants $1M defense fund for illegals after ICE roundup

Seattle officials want to set up a $1 million legal defense fund for illegal immigrants.
Seattle officials want to set up a $1 million legal defense fund for illegal immigrants. (Source: publicdomainpictures.com)

A proposal by Seattle city officials to create a $1 million legal defense fund for illegal immigrants could not have been timed more ironically, since Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents announced the arrests of 84 illegals in three states, including Washington, and most of them had criminal records, according to KIRO Eyewitness News.

Many of them had prior convictions for “sex crimes, drug offenses and domestic violence” including one Mexican citizen who had been previously deported. That man had charged with child rape and “was recently released by local authorities despite an immigration detainer.”

It did not appear that proponents of the defense fund had much to say about the ICE roundup.

But Seattle Councilwoman M. Lorena Gonzalez justified the big bucks proposal by stating, “This legal-defense fund means that when our immigrant and refugee families, friends and neighbors go to immigration court, they will not be alone. We will stand hand in hand with these families as they defend their right to remain in this country.”

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However, at least some of the more than 400 readers responding to a story about this proposed defense fund in the Seattle Times suggest that illegal immigrant families have no right to remain in the United States. They came here in violation of the law, those readers argue.

According to KIRO, the three-state roundup included arrests in Washington, Oregon and Alaska. The most were in King County, where Seattle is located. Nine more came from neighboring Snohomish County.

Seattle made headlines earlier in the week when liberal Democrat Mayor Ed Murray – the same man who wants to crack down on gun owners – sued the Trump administration over its immigration policies and threats to cut off federal grant money to so-called “sanctuary cities.”

Immigration has become a prickly issue for the Trump administration. It has resulted in legal action spearheaded by Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson, and now the Seattle mayor has his own high-profile lawsuit in progress.

Related:

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