Woodland council to consider resolution of support for Arizona immigration law
StoryDiscussionBy Leila Summers / The Daily News | Posted: Thursday, June 3, 2010 9:55 pm | (27) Comments



Poll

Do you want your city and/or county government to express an opinion on national immigration policies?

Yes 66%
No 34%
Total Votes: 319

Woodland City Council on Monday will vote on a resolution supporting Arizona's controversial immigration law and encouraging the state of Washington to adopt a similar law.

The measure, if approved, will be a "purely symbolic" sign of support, said Councilman Benjamin Fredricks, who is proposing the measure.

He hopes the resolution, if passed, gets the attention of state lawmakers and prompts a tougher approach to illegal immigration. Long Beach recently adopted a similar resolution, making it the only Washington city so far to express support for the Arizona law.

"As a whole, our state representatives in Olympia decided to bury their heads in the sand and pretend this isn't an issue in our state," Fredricks said Thursday.

No Woodland laws or arrest practices would change if the council approves the resolution, but the measure is bound to cause some contention in Woodland, which has a large Latino population (7.4 percent of the population in 2000). The vote could plunge the city of about 5,000 residents into the growing national furor over illegal immigration. Mayor Chuck Blum said he would rather the council not touch the subject.

The Arizona law, which is set to take effect late July, requires police to ask a person about his or her immigration status if there's "reasonable suspicion" that the person is in the country illegally. Being in the country illegally would be a state crime under the law.

Critics have said the law could lead to racial profiling, and some groups, including Hispanic civil rights organizations, have called for boycotts of Arizona and its businesses. The Los Angeles and Seattle city councils have voted to boycott Arizona businesses; Tacoma City Council passed a measure condemning Arizona's law.

In particular, Fredricks said he's concerned about taxpayers picking up the bill for putting illegal immigrants in jail. (The City of Woodland pays about $250,000 annually for county jail expenses, Fredricks said, though he wasn't sure what percentage of that is to incarcerate immigration violators.)

Also, Fredricks said he is concerned that illegal immigrants send their children to public schools without paying property taxes and that health care premiums increase for people in order to help cover services provided to illegal immigrants. Also, they "take away good paying jobs from people who are here legally," he said.

"I wholeheartedly support and encourage legal immigration, but you need to follow the law," he said.

Fredricks said it's becoming increasingly "clear the federal government is not going to enforce the law" and local governments need to prod for action.

He doubts Washington will adopt tougher immigration laws any time soon.

"Look at polls. People support tougher immigration law, even in Arizona. If other cities would come out in support of it, maybe our legislature in Washington would take notice," he said.

Woodland Mayor Chuck Blum said he believes the resolution is inappropriate for a council meeting because the city has no control over immigration issues.

"We have issues that we can control, like our water and sewer rates ... but constitutional issues, that's the state Legislature, that's the United States Congress. That's where they belong," Blum said.

Representatives from the La Casa de San Juan Diego apartments in Woodland, which is run by the Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle to provide housing for low-income families that are predominantly Hispanic, declined to comment on the proposed resolution Thursday. They referred a reporter to the website of the U.S. Conference of Cathoic Bishops, which says the Arizona law "undermines the fabric of society by creating an atmosphere of discrimination against certain members of the community, profiling minorities and creating fear among persons of color regardless of their immigration status. "

Fredricks said he would like to hear public opinions at Monday's meeting before the council votes.

Woodland City Council meets at 7 p.m. in the city council chambers at 100 Davidson Avenue.

Posted in Local, Govt-and-politics on Thursday, June 3, 2010 9:55 pm Updated: 1:05 am. | Tags:


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