By Hannah Saunders

On August 13 U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi issued Washington Governor Bob Ferguson a letter for its sanctuary status and demanded a response by August 19 that affirms its promise to remove “laws, policies, and practices that impede federal immigration enforcement.” But Gov. Ferguson publicly stated that the state will remain firm in its stance against the Trump regime’s attacks. 

“The federal government’s relentless targeting of law-abiding immigrants is wrong,” Gov. Ferguson said. “The Keep Washington Working Act is an important law that helps protect Washington families in the face of this assault. The Keep Washington Working Act requires our state and local law enforcement to focus on keeping Washingtonians safe, rather than allowing limited resources to be used for federal immigration enforcement.”

The Keep Washington Working Act was passed in 2019 by the state legislature, and restricts how far local law enforcement agencies can work with federal immigration enforcement. Local law enforcement are prohibited from requesting birth location, immigration status, or nationality (unless pertinent for an ongoing criminal investigation), notifying ICE when people are set to be released from custody, and more. 

Gov. Ferguson added that, “Protecting hardworking Washingtonians who are abiding by our state laws and keeping families together reflect our values as a state.” 

But Bondi claims that any sanctuary status is “unlawful” and that she will target state and local laws that disrupt federal immigration enforcement actions and attack those laws through the legal system. 

On April 28, Trump signed Executive Order 14287: Protecting American Communities from Criminal Aliens, which directed the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security to create and publish a list of states, cities, and counties with sanctuary status. Seattle and Portland, Los Angeles, and San Francisco are included on the list of cities. The states include:

• California
• Colorado
• Connecticuit
• Delaware
• District of Columbia
• Illinois
• Minnesota
• Nevada
• New York
• Oregon
• Rhode Island
• Vermont
• Washington

Gov. Ferguson was not the only elected official to receive a letter from Bondi that day, as 32 others, including Connecticuit and Oregon leaders, got the same message. 

During an August 14 interview on Fox News with Sean Hannity, Bondi spoke about sanctuary cities and making them “safe again.” She cited Washington D.C., and how its mass violence against its residents has led some to come out of their homes and thank officers for their work. 

“They’re trying to protect criminal aliens and what’s going to happen if we keep this up: criminals are going to flee to DC [a sanctuary city] and we are not going to let that happen,” Bondi said.