Immigration

Washington lawmakers on Trump's DACA decision

| Posted in In the News

Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson has joined a handful of AGs nationwide who are promising to challenge the Trump administration’s move to end DACA, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. “In my view though, as cruel and inhumane as the action is, there’s one other problem with it. I think it’s illegal," AG Ferguson said on Tuesday.  He hasn't revealed details about…

DACA recipients, supporters rally in Skagit County

| Posted in In the News

Drivers honked and people beat drums in downtown Mount Vernon on Tuesday as dozens lined the intersection of Third and Kincaid streets to protest a decision announced earlier in the day by President Donald Trump that could affect up to 800,000 young immigrants living in America — some of them in Skagit County. It was the first of two rallies held near the Skagit County Courthouse…

Washington state officials preparing to defend DACA program

| Posted in In the News

The future of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals has yet to be determined, but Washington state’s Congressional delegation, governor, attorney general and immigration attorneys are preparing to defend the program. Republican attorneys general from 10 states have said they will challenge DACA in federal court if President Donald Trump does not end the program by Sept. 5. Trump is…

DelBene Helps Introduce Bill to Protect Dreamers from Deportation

| Posted in Press Releases

Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (WA-01) today joined Congressman Luis V. Gutierrez (IL-04) and Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (CA-19) in introducing the American Hope Act, which would provide Dreamers a conditional pathway to citizenship. “I strongly support an earned path to citizenship for young people who are already here, otherwise following the law, working or going to school and…

Local police: Immigration enforcement issue of law, not politics

| Posted in In the News

MOUNT VERNON — On any given day, Mount Vernon police officer Edgar Serrano fields a variety of questions from families on his beat in the Kulshan neighborhood. Some people want to know how to obtain a driver's license, while others seek clarification on city laws. But since November, one question has come up more frequently for Serrano, a 10-year veteran of the Mount Vernon…

WA Dems Concerned about Detention of DREAMer, Denounce ICE Raids

| Posted in Press Releases

Today, U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Patty Murray (D-WA), joined by Reps. Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Adam Smith (WA-09), Denny Heck (WA-10), Derek Kilmer (WA-06), Rick Larsen (WA-02), and Suzan DelBene (WA-01), sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly to express concern that enforcement priorities are now so broad that Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)…

Video: Tech on The Hill with Rep. Suzan DelBene

| Posted in In the News

When former Microsoft Corp. executive Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.) returned for the 115th Congress, it didn’t take long for her to address one of the issues racking the tech industry: President Trump’s campaign promise to create a religious registry for Muslims in the U.S. “This is a key area of concern given what’s happened with the recent executive order,”…

Democratic Reps. condemn immigration order, demand briefing

| Posted in In the News

SEATTLE - Seattle Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, D-07, and other Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee are asking for an emergency briefing before all House members, on the extreme vetting executive order and its chaotic rollout over the weekend. A letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly cites “urgency, widespread confusion and dangerous impact…

How Your Elected Officials, and Some Really Smart Lawyers, Are Fighting Trump

| Posted in In the News

At 4:42 p.m. EST last Friday, when President Donald Trump signed a sweeping executive order banning refugees and specific travelers from entering the U.S., it launched a nationwide explosion of resistance, from the airports to the streets to the courts. In Seattle, that resistance was just as swift from elected officials and attorneys as from local residents. By early Saturday afternoon,…

Stop that plane: The frantic race to halt a deportation

| Posted in In the News

When Courtney Gregoire read about the chaos unfolding in New York’s John F. Kennedy airport Saturday morning, she began to wonder how President Donald Trump’s ban on travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries would play out in Seattle. Gregoire, an attorney and the daughter of former Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire, is a commissioner of the Port of…