King County will not consider new permits for detention centers, including those for immigration facilities, in unincorporated areas for a year. Officials plan to study the potential impacts of these facilities on county residents.
The King County Council this week approved a one-year moratorium on accepting applications to establish new detention facilities or expand existing ones. Councilmembers raised public safety and health concerns, and said the county lacks the safeguards for managing these facilities, including their water usage, transportation and parking.
The moratorium comes after after reports that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency was eyeing an office building in Tukwila to boost capacity for detainees.
ICE did not respond to a request for comment on the county's ban in time for this story. The agency told KUOW this week that it had no new Washington facilities to announce.
Similar actions have been taken by cities in and around the county to limit or ban immigration enforcement activities. The cities of Tukwila and SeaTac have adopted bans on new correction and detention centers. The mayors of Everett and Seattle have barred immigration officials from conducting enforcement activity on city property.
King County Executive Girmay Zahilay's first executive order also barred ICE from county property. The order, introduced in February, included several items aimed at supporting immigrants and refugees. Among them, it said officials would explore a moratorium on the development of new detention facilities.
Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda, who put forward the King County ban on Tuesday, said it’s a way to get ahead of new facilities proposed by federal immigration agencies.
“What we are doing in King County unincorporated area is imposing a moratorium that will make sure that it is not too late to fight back against these detention facilities,” Mosqueda said. “We have the ability to use our land, use code to make sure that we are promoting and supporting health, safety and well-being of our residents.”
New detention centers often bring with them an increased presence of ICE agents, she said, which could lead to students missing school and fewer people shopping for groceries or making doctor’s appointments. With the ban, the county hopes to send a message that it’s looking at different options to “ward off the attacks and threats” from the federal government.
ICE and its detention facilities "disrupt and destroy the fabric of our communities,” Mosqueda said. “They create a cascading consequence on the physical and mental health of individuals, and they actually have detrimental impacts on the health of our local economies as well.”
During public comment, a representative of the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington and two individuals spoke in support of the ordinance. No speakers opposed it.
The county passed the ordinance by a seven-to-two vote on Tuesday. Councilmembers Pete von Reichbauer and Reagan Dunn voted against it.
Dunn said he was concerned that the ordinance could prevent the county from moving inmates to a new location if a jail was damaged.
“It has the potential to tie the hands of jurisdictions of various kinds, including King County, if there was an earthquake or fire or something happened to an existing jail and we needed to use a warehouse — that would be a problem,” he said.
However, county officials said the Council could revisit the moratorium to allow for exemptions in such scenarios.
The ordinance requires the county to hold a separate public hearing within 60 days, since it was introduced directly to the Council without going through the usual process.
It also directs the county executive, Zahilay, to conduct a study on impacts from potential detention facilities. Zahilay is also charged with drafting recommendations for regulations and identifying appropriate areas for detention centers over the coming year.
