Washington AG Questions Role of Local Sheriff in Aiding Mass Deportation Efforts

A dustup in Washington state is raising questions about what role state and local authorities should play in helping to enforce immigration law, The New York Times reports. The White House has come to see local sheriffs as crucial to the president’s immigration agenda: They can identify immigrants in their custody who may be deportable and relay that information to immigration authorities. But Washington state officials have implemented laws meant to limit collaboration between immigration and local law enforcement. So, in a lawsuit, Nick Brown, Washington’s attorney general, has accused Sheriff Dale Wagner of Adams County, of sharing inmate information with federal immigration agents in defiance of those laws. “Right now, we have federal immigration officials who are, in my view, essentially kidnapping people off the streets without due process,” Brown said.

Wagner defended providing inmate information to federal agents, saying he was within his authority and that he was doing what he needed to do to protect his constituents. “It goes back to my oath,” he said. “I protect the State of Washington’s Constitution as best I can, and the United States Constitution as best I can, and that’s all I can do.” But the Washington AG’s lawsuit alleges that Wagner takes it to a new level: that deputies in his office about 100 miles from Spokane have been holding people in jail based solely on immigration status, and that deputies have been allowing such prisoners to be interrogated by federal agents, allegations that Sheriff Wagner said were untrue. But his defense of his work with immigration has drawn him legal representation from a conservative organization founded by President Trump’s chief immigration adviser, Stephen Miller. And in recent weeks, the Department of Homeland Security has been reviewing billions of dollars in grants for cities and states to assess whether jurisdictions receiving the federal funds are in line with Mr. Trump’s priorities on immigration.