Putting ICE on ice
At Seattle's City Hall, a coalition organizing in solidarity with Seattle's undocumented immigrants called for a national moratorium on all ICE ( US Department of Immigration, Customs and Enforcement) raids on undocumented workers' homes and job sites. The coalition included groups as disparate as CASA Latina, the Tenants Union of Washington, and the NAACP.
Though representing a variety of social interests, each organization's core message was the same. As a city, Seattle can not tolerate raids on the homes of illegal immigrants without comprehensive and workable immigration legislation on a federal level.
Were a national moratorium on raids to prove impossible, the coalition called on Gov. Christine Gregoire and the state's Congressional delegation to make Washington a place of sanctuary for immigrants.
The Church Council of Greater Seattle's the Rev. Sanford Brown pointed to the nation's 3.1 million children with at least one unauthorized immigrant parent. "[These children] are part of us," he said. "And they are guaranteed a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
--JP Gritton