Seattle City Council Shows Support for Comprehensive Immigration Reform

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The Seattle City Council unanimously supported a Resolution yesterday that affirmed support for comprehensive immigration reform. The Council has previously shown similar leadership on the issue and support of the immigrant community by opposing federal legislation that encourages local enforcement of civil immigration laws and establishing policies to protect immigrants' access to police protection and public services.

On Monday, Councilmember Nick Licata noted that although the composition of the Council has changed, support for Seattle's immigrant community continues. In the Resolution, the City of Seattle recognizes that the immigration system is broken and "respectfully urges the Congress of the United States to address comprehensive immigration reform this year."

Members of the the Washington Immigration Reform Coalition (WIRC) FOR America attended the Council meeting to speak in support of the resolution and applaud the Council. WIRC representatives included CASA Latina, Asian Counseling and Referral Service, Teamsters Local 117, OneAmerica, the Asian Pacific Islander Coalition, and El Centro de la Raza. OneAmerica Director Pramila Jayapal thanked the Council for continuing their "incredible tradition of making sure that in the City of Seattle we're going to lead the way on immigration reform and on these issues that are so important to our communities." You can watch a video of the Council meeting at the Seattle Channel.