Sheriff Swank says it’s safe for anyone to call 911. How he undercut his message | Opinion

It’s a laudable extremity to reassure Pierce County residents that they tin telephone the constabulary without fearfulness of deportation. That’s what Sheriff Keith Swank tried to bash erstwhile helium told The News Tribune this week that his section doesn’t tally the accusation of transgression victims to spot if they person ineligible status.

It’s indispensable that anyone who needs to telephone 911, particularly for their ain information oregon the information of others, should beryllium capable to bash that without hesitation oregon fear. (And it should beryllium said that 911 doesn’t pb straight to the Sheriff’s Office. It’s a dispatch work that’s connected with archetypal responders passim the region.)

But the sheriff’s argumentation isn’t the lone happening that matters erstwhile it comes to making radical consciousness assured erstwhile calling instrumentality enforcement. Perceptions are important, too. So it’s unusual that Swank would marque his comments the aforesaid period helium traveled to Washington, D.C., wherever helium concisely met with U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Swank wants to absorption connected criminals, and that’s good. But to marque residents comfy calling the Sheriff’s Office, what Swank truly needs to bash is publically accidental helium supports owed process for undocumented immigrants. As of now, he’s aligned himself with an migration argumentation that says the opposite.

Bondi is helping support and transportation retired the Trump administration’s deportation agenda. That’s the docket that, successful conscionable 100 days, has racked up tribunal challenges, raised law questions and unleashed chaos connected the lives of immigrants and visitors. It’s an docket that argues that non-citizens aren’t owed owed process successful the United States.

Swank wasn’t successful D.C. to conscionable with Bondi. He was traveling with a radical of Washington sheriffs to amusement enactment for Adams County Sheriff Dale Wagner, who is warring for the quality to assistance national officials with migration enforcement. Wagner is facing a suit from Washington Attorney General Nick Brown for allegedly holding radical successful custody based solely connected their migration presumption and aiding migration enforcement officials successful different ways that interruption authorities law.

Still, the photograph op with the U.S. Attorney General sends a precise circumstantial connection astir wherever Swank is aligned connected immigration.

Nationally, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has deported radical successful its custody to El Salvador, wherever they were imprisoned with nary accidental to support themselves from claims that they beryllium to gangs. Multiple national judges person questioned the ineligible ground of those and different caller deportations.

In the Tacoma region, University of Washington planetary students saw their ineligible presumption terminated with nary notification and small explanation. In 1 case, migration officials based the termination connected an unproven allegation of a non-violent crime, erstwhile national instrumentality requires a condemnation of a transgression of unit successful bid to portion a student’s ineligible status. The authorities gave backmost ineligible presumption to galore students, but not earlier turning their lives and acquisition upside down.

Again, it’s important that Swank doesn’t privation to scare undocumented residents distant from calling the constabulary and reassuring to perceive helium doesn’t tally the accusation of transgression victims. But erstwhile radical are being threatened with deportation based connected unproven allegations of crimes, who tin beryllium definite they won’t beryllium called a transgression erstwhile instrumentality enforcement gets involved?

Posing successful a representation with Bondi portion successful D.C. to sermon however sheriffs tin cooperate with national migration enforcement undermines Swank’s reassurances. Acting similar it’s silly for undocumented residents to interest is besides not reassuring, fixed the disregard for owed process connected show from national migration officials.

If Swank wants undocumented residents to consciousness harmless calling successful his department, he’ll request to bash much to beryllium it. He could commencement by saying helium supports owed process for each residents, careless of their ineligible status.