(Photo via U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement)
The state attorney general is suing an eastern Washington county over allegations the sheriff has for years flouted state law by aiding federal immigration enforcement.
The lawsuit filed Monday in Spokane County Superior Court says Adams County sheriff’s deputies have been violating the Keep Washington Working Act since at least 2022. The attorney general’s office alleges deputies have unlawfully jailed people based solely on immigration status, enabled federal immigration agents to question those in custody and shared personal information on hundreds of Washingtonians with federal officials.
The sheriff’s office reportedly often sent lists of people in its custody to federal immigration agents.
“The State has an obligation to protect the rights of its residents and defend Washington law, even when that unfortunately requires taking enforcement against its own political subdivisions,” the complaint states. “The State cannot stand by when elected officials publicly boast that they are breaking state law and putting their own communities at risk.”
The attorney general’s office had been working with Adams County to comply with the 2019 state law, the lawsuit says. Late last year, the state and county were engaged in settlement negotiations, according to court papers.
But President Donald Trump’s inauguration changed that, according to the lawsuit.
In late February, the county’s attorneys asserted in a letter to Attorney General Nick Brown that “Adams County has obligations under federal law that directly conflict” with the Keep Washington Working Act, which bars local law enforcement from helping federal immigration enforcement. County officials note that by helping federal agents, a convicted sex offender was “removed from the County.”
The sheriff’s office retained lawyers from America First Legal. Stephen Miller, one of Trump’s top aides and an immigration hard-liner, founded the nonprofit.
In a press release last month, America First Legal called the state’s push to get Adams County to comply with state law an “egregious abuse of state power.” Senior counsel James Rogers said it was “outrageous that the State of Washington has been working to subvert” federal law “while at the same time facilitating the invasion of our country.”
“It is even more disgraceful that the State of Washington would target one of its own counties because the officials there have the courage to follow the law and have been cooperating with [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] to help keep our country safe,” Rogers said in last month’s statement.
Cities and states across the country have similar so-called “sanctuary” statutes. Courts have repeatedly upheld most of these laws.
Still, the Trump administration has sued multiple states over their sanctuary laws in the first weeks of his presidency. Some local governments, including the city of Seattle, have filed suit against the administration over threats to withhold federal funding unless they aid in his plans for a massive deportation campaign.
Late last month, the head of the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs said “sheriffs and Chiefs across our state have been clear and consistent that they will follow both state and federal law.”
“Rhetoric does not change the fact that the focus of local law enforcement is on criminal violations that affect local community safety and quality of life,” said Steve Strachan.
Adams County is home to about 20,000 people in southeast Washington. Ritzville is the county seat. The county’s economy is driven by farming, and in turn workers without legal immigration status, according to the state’s lawsuit.
In January, before Trump took office, a man sued the county alleging officials transported him from jail 70-plus miles to hand him over to U.S. Border Patrol agents despite a court order to release him from custody. In a response filed in federal court last week, the county denied most of the allegations.
Sheriff Dale Wagner and America First Legal didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit Monday morning.