Seattle City Council Bans Federal Immigration Staging, Limits Data Sharing

In two unanimous votes, the Seattle City Council passed bills that would ban federal law enforcement agents from staging on city property when conducting civil immigration enforcement and limit the city and its contractors from sharing immigration data with the federal government. Although some who spoke during public comments expressed happiness that both bills were up for votes, some wanted greater protection from and by the Seattle Police Department (SPD).

"I appreciate the fact that you guys are putting forward legislation to protect us from ICE," said Nathan, who spoke during public comments. "I also do share concern with SPD not protecting us from ICE."

Immigration Staging Bill

Councilmember Bob Kettle, the sponsor of the staging bill, began his summary by holding a pocket U.S. Constitution and providing a refresher on the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unlawful search and seizure, and the 10th Amendment, which ensures the federal government doesn't overstep its constitutional powers.

"It's really incumbent on us, as a local government, to stand up for those rights. And that’s what this staging bill does," said Kettle.

Council Bill 121164, an ordinance relating to civil immigration enforcement:

• Prohibits staging and operations of civil immigration enforcement activities on city-owned and city-controlled properties. 

• Allows the city attorney to seek legal relief on violations of the ordinance.

• Reviews properties for signage, prioritizing properties with key public services like child care and health care.

Kettle continued his remarks by addressing the public commenters' concerns about SPD.

"To the questions that came up in public comment, the police directive says that they will respond," said Kettle. "It's about engaging … It's about confirming that it is a federal law enforcement … and to document … this is what [SPD is] doing."

Kettle ended by saying, "We are a city that is doing it right. We are engaging, and we are professional, and we are standing up."

The council passed the immigration staging bill 8-0 with no amendments.

Data Sharing and Privacy Protection Bill

After the staging bill, the council considered Resolution 32194, the data sharing and privacy bill, which:

• Reaffirms data sharing and privacy protections for any person seeking or accessing city programs and services.

• Reviews the city’s data collections and sharing practices to limit data exposure to the federal government and other jurisdictions.

• Requests departments to incorporate privacy standards into future contracting requirements.

"My principles on this have been clear: We should be doing everything we can, especially when it comes to privacy protection," said Councilmember Dionne Foster, the bill's sponsor. "We want to be proactive in our responsibility as a local government to be in compliance with the Keep Washington Working Act."

With only a minor amendment, the data-sharing bill also passed 8-0.

After the meeting, Foster talked to the Emerald about the passage of her first major piece of legislation. "I think it’s great to have unanimous support from colleagues … that we [are] ensuring that we do the right thing in keeping people’s data safe and secure is really important."

Although immigration enforcement is the resolution's key focus, it also prevents any "unnecessary data" from being shared. Foster said that was to "make sure that we are only asking for things that we need to run programs, and then to ensure that we don’t have vulnerabilities on the data that we do collect."