The King County Council adopted a “Welcoming King County” motion to strengthen commitments that the county will not assist federal immigration enforcement actions and commit to additional support for immigrant and refugee communities.
Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda, of Seattle, sponsored the motion in response to the Trump administration “sowing fear across the country through brutal and unjust persecution of immigrant communities,” according to a July 15 council media release.
The council voted 8-1 on July 15 to approve the motion. Reagan Dunn voted against it.
Council members Jorge L. Barón and Rod Dembowski co-sponsored the motion. Barón is the former long-time executive director of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project.
“This motion demonstrates the council’s commitment to take action to implement additional safeguards against the federal administration’s attempts to use King County public safety infrastructure to surveil residents, and boost supports for immigrant and refugee communities, including dedicated staffing to protect individuals appearing in court for their hearings (a frequent target of ICE), promoting awareness of rights and resources available to immigrant communities, and posting signage at King County buildings,” according to the media release.
Mosqueda, a former Seattle City Council member, explained why she proposed the motion.
“As the federal administration continues to expand its campaign of fear and violence upon immigrant communities, we must stand with residents of King County by protecting data the county holds and the people within our borders,” she said. “This motion is a next step towards that goal, and I look forward to working with my council colleagues to advance legislation and budget investments to do all we can to protect the rights of our residents.”
This motion indicates the council’s intent to pursue several steps to further support immigrant and refugee communities, including:
• Limiting county assistance with federal investigation, enforcement of registration or surveillance programs, or any other federal policies that target residents solely on the basis of race, religion, immigration or citizenship status, or national or ethnic origin
• Increasing staffing in the Office of Equity and Racial and Social Justice dedicated to boosting outreach to and engagement with immigrant and refugee communities
• Creating a ‘Know Your Rights’ web hub and multilingual alerts for immigrant residents
• Increasing funding for deportation defense and rapid response to ICE raids
• Installing signage in county buildings blocking warrantless federal access
• Urging courts and prosecutors to not increase consequences of criminal legal system involvement solely due to one’s status as an immigrant
• Affirming voter access for multilingual, immigrant electorate ahead of 2026 races
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