Thread: Spokane City Council prohibits immigration status inquiries by employees,

October 30, 2014 in City

Spokane City Council prohibits immigration status inquiries by employees, including police

Nicholas Deshais The Spokesman-Review

Beheadings and Ebola made an appearance at this week’s Spokane City Council meeting, as did some deferred gratitude from Council President Ben Stuckart, who thanked the Spokane Tribe of Indians for allowing the city’s founders to settle here.

It’s fair to say discussion got off track about an ordinance proposed by Stuckart that said, “no Spokane City officer or employee shall inquire into the immigration status of any person, or engage in activities designed to ascertain the immigration status of any person.”

The new law affirms policies already in place in the Spokane Police Department. According to the department’s manual, “the immigration status of individuals alone is not a matter for police action. …

Confidence in this commitment will increase the effectiveness of the Department in protecting and serving the community.”

The city ordinance passed by a 5-2 vote, with council members Mike Fagan and Mike Allen opposing it, after an hour of heated testimony.

John Ahern, a former Republican state legislator, called the ordinance “a sanctuary city bill” and warned that it would dissuade businesses from locating in the area.

“Once we make this a sanctuary city … you’re going to see taxes increase,” he said. “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that.”

Susan Bacon, who said she was a nurse, warned that “illegal aliens” bring dangerous, infectious diseases to the country, including tuberculosis, influenza, leprosy, cholera and scabies.

“I’m not going to bring up Ebola per se because we know far too much about that,” she said.

Laura Shulenbarger, a “political refugee” from Southern California, gave perhaps the direst warning of the evening when she relayed rumors she’d heard from Arizona, which was “being invaded by illegal aliens who were being trained by Mideastern terrorists, and some of their heads were being chopped off,” she said.

Not all speakers testified against the law.

Gloria Ochoa is the city’s director of multicultural affairs. In 2012, she was appointed by Gov. Chris Gregoire to the state commission on Hispanic affairs.

She told council members that the ordinance was a “sound piece of legislation” before reprimanding other speakers.

“There’s no such thing as an illegal person,” said Ochoa, who moved to the country as an infant before gaining citizenship during her first year of law school at the University of Idaho.

Greg Cunningham, who leads the refugee and immigration services for Catholic Charities, said Spokane’s become more diverse during his 13 years with the group.

“I have seen the face of Spokane change,” he said.

According to World Relief, about 40,000 people have come to Spokane as refugees. Most of them are from the former Soviet Union, but there are also people from the Marshall Islands, Iraq and Mexico, among other places.

It’s unclear how many undocumented workers live in the region, but Cunningham likened the immigrant community to a game of pick-up sticks.

“You cannot remove one without the whole thing collapsing,” he said, noting later that “you can’t remove somebody from the community without having a huge impact. This is about keeping families together.”

The majority of the council said the law strengthened public safety by allowing immigrants who are here illegally to report crimes they are victims of or have witnessed without fear of arrest and deportation.

Fagan did not.

Citing statistics from the Federation for American Immigration Reform, he said the 275,000 undocumented immigrants in Washington cost the state $2.7 billion a year.

Stuckart suggested those who spoke against the law lacked historical perspective.

“I really want to thank our local native tribes,” he said. “Especially the Spokane Tribe, for providing the founders of Spokane a sanctuary over 100 years ago.

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/201...ration-status/

Other than the two courageous city council members, are there no patriots living in Spokane? Where are the angry demonstrations in front of the city hall? Demonstrations that go on without end. That a city government should legitimize protecting and enabling foreigners illegally residing in the U.S. and in their city is sick and certainly against federal law and unconstitutional.

This stuff happens because patriots allow it to happen. Patriots are constantly allowing the enemy to win by their passive acceptance of illegal government activities and Marxist abuses of power, and that is why it continues. ACCEPTANCE IS PASSIVE ASSISTANCE. We loose by default. We play by the rules the enemy constantly ignores. Guess who will inevitably win?

WHERE ARE THE ANGRY AND CEASLESS PROTESTS! WHERE?

Oh yah, they will go to meetings and a few will get angry and express it--big whoop, as if the Marxist in government care. And when patriots loose they meekly go quietly away and complain to each other (politely picking up their trash as they leave). And Marxist laws and abuses of power become permanent.

There are times, that happen more and more often with me, when I am ashamed to be a conservative. Conservative passivity and politeness is embarrassing.

When the city police take anyone to the county jail the county employees will run their finger prints and illegal aliens will be identified to the county jail employees. Game, Set, Match.

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

Stuckart suggested those who spoke against the law lacked historical perspective.

“I really want to thank our local native tribes,” he said. “Especially the Spokane Tribe, for providing the founders of Spokane a sanctuary over 100 years ago.

How drunk was this guy when he said this? From HistoryLink.org:
http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm...m&File_Id=5100 "By the 1850s, when the first EuroAmerican settlers arrived at Alki Point and along the Duwamish River, diseases had already taken a devastating toll on native peoples and their cultures. During the 80 year period from the 1770s to 1850, smallpox, measles, influenza, and other diseases had killed an estimated 28,000 Native Americans in Western Washington, leaving about 9,000 survivors. The Indian population continued to decline, although at a slower rate, till the beginning of the twentieth century when it reached its low point. Since then the Native American population has been slowly increasing."

That was one hellova welcome.

Since diseases against which Native Americans had no immunity were responsible for most of the deaths which occured during the European colonization, I'm guessing that the indigenous people in Eastern Washington didn't fare any better.
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