(Image: @cmtmosqueda)
The Seattle City Council and its public safety committee will be busy Tuesday with further legislative response to the ongoing federal immigration enforcement crisis:
- Emergency ‘detention center’ ban: The full council is scheduled to vote Tuesday afternoon on a new addition to the Seattle municipal code that would institute a moratorium on “the filing, acceptance, processing, or approval of applications for the establishment, expansion, or change of use” for detention centers in the city. The bill from Alexis Mercedes Rinck would cover gaps in the muni code including defining what qualifies as a detention center and declaring a public emergency to address the issue. The legislation would establish a year-long moratorium on permit applications for “development, expansion, or conversion” of existing structures to detention centers and establish a work plan to consider permanent regulations by January 2027. Seattle’s ban would follow King County’s emergency one-year ban on any centers in unincorporated areas approved last week.
- Enforcement staging ban: The council’s public safety committee Tuesday morning is slated to vote on the legislation underpinning efforts to ban federal immigration enforcement staging operations from city property. CHS reported here on the proposed ban and $45,000 in signs that are already being placed around the city. Tuesday’s committee vote comes as the matter is hoped to be approved and moved to the full council. An amendment up for consideration would further define what types of city properties are involved and eliminates the requirement “for the City to both own and control a property in order to prohibit civil immigration enforcement staging.” “Instead, the City could prohibit such staging on a more diverse set of properties that are used to serve municipal purposes,” an update on the proposed amendment reads.
Subscribe to CHS to help us hire writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. To stay that way, we need you. Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for $5 a month — or choose your level of support 
