Washington State Attorney General Sues Sheriff for Helping Immigration Enforcement

Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown sued Adams County and the Adams County Sheriff's Office on Monday March 10, accusing them of violating a state law that limits local involvement in federal immigration enforcement.

The lawsuit claims the Adams County Sheriff’s Office has illegally held people in custody based only on their immigration status, helped federal agents question people in custody, and routinely given immigration officials confidential personal information of hundreds of Washingtonians — including birth dates, home addresses, driver’s license numbers, and fingerprints. In addition, the state alleges the county has “gone out of their way to enable federal immigration agents to interview or question people in custody, including transporting people in county vehicles expressly for that purpose.”

In announcing the lawsuit, Brown said Washington law does not interfere with the ability of federal officials to enforce immigration law, KUOW reports.

But Adams County Sheriff Dale Wagner disagrees.

“The state’s restrictions attempt to tie the hands of law enforcement, making it harder to cooperate with federal agencies that help keep dangerous individuals off our streets,” Wagner wrote in a statement posted to Facebook on Monday. “Public safety should never be a political issue, yet this lawsuit prioritizes ideology over the safety of our communities.”