New petition asks Richland to adopt ‘inclusiveness’ statement

The city of Richland is facing calls to embrace “inclusiveness” — but not federal immigration law — after politely ignoring requests made by citizens at several recent council meetings.

Consejo Latino Tri-Cities, Indivisible: Washington State 4th Congressional District and other pro-immigration groups launched an online petition Tuesday calling on Richland Mayor Bob Thompson and the city council to adopt an “inclusiveness resolution.”

The proposed resolution would declare that Richland supports inclusiveness and does not enforce federal immigration laws, inquire about immigration status or engage in activities designed to ascertain the immigration status of any person.

The petition is posted at actionnetwork.org and circulated on Facebook by supporters. It had 32 signatures as of Tuesday evening. Consejo Latino Tri-Cities is the former Latino Coalition of the Tri-Cities, which advocates for Latino issues. Indivisible is a national effort that advises local groups on “resisting the Trump agenda.”

The cities of Kennewick, Richland and Pasco have all faced calls to embrace “inclusive” resolutions, though not identical.

In February, the city of Pasco responded to such a request by issuing a statement on immigration status. The general statement notes the city does not ask about immigration status when providing municipal services, ranging from snow and ice control to parks and police services.

Kennewick turned down a different version at a surprisingly confrontational meeting last week. The city council and its diversity commission both declined to formally consider an inclusive community declaration advanced by Councilman Bob Parks and Latino activist Leo Perales, an unlikely duo who came together after clashing last year over Facebook posts by Parks that seemed to disparage Latinos and Pasco.

Critics called the resolution an “end run” around the diversity commission it seated last fall as a result of the Parks controversy. At Parks’ request, the Kennewick edition would have stated that the city is not a so-called sanctuary for undocumented immigrants and that it would comply with federal immigration law.

Perales, author of the Kennewick edition, said he will continue to push his version.

“We need not to stop,” he said. “Racisim and incivility is not going to take a break.”

“Inclusion” has become a stand-in in some cases for “sanctuary” status. Jurisdictions that adopt “sanctuary” status generally do so to shelter undocumented immigrants. No Tri-City government has given itself sanctuary status.

A conservative Washington, D.C., think tank labeled both Benton and Franklin counties as “sanctuary” entities over their policies of requiring court orders to detain prisoners on immigration holds after their jail release dates. Both counties say their policies are in compliance with the U.S. Constitution.

Both counties escaped being included in the Department of Homeland Security’s first-ever “Declined Detainer Outcome Report,” issued Monday.

The report is required under President Trump’s Jan. 25 executive order, “Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States.” It highlights jurisdications that “choose not to cooperate” with the government’s detainer and notification requests.

No entity in the Mid-Columbia was identified in the first of what will be a weekly roundup of immigration-related matters.

This story was originally published March 21, 2017 at 6:59 PM with the headline "New petition asks Richland to adopt ‘inclusiveness’ statement."