Title
A MOTION regarding the council's commitment to welcoming and actively supporting immigrants and refugees, and requesting a report evaluating the county's progress towards that commitment.
Body
WHEREAS, according to the 2023 American Community Survey conducted by the United States Census Bureau, King County is home to approximately five hundred eighty-six thousand foreign-born residents from every corner of the world totaling over a quarter of the county's population, and
WHEREAS, immigrants and refugees enhance the county's cultural richness and economic vitality with, according to a 2020 report from the Keep Washington Working workgroup, immigrant-owned businesses in Washington State generating over $2.3 billion in annual revenue and creating thousands of jobs, and immigrant households across the state paying an estimated $9.7 billion in federal taxes and $3.9 billion in state taxes, and
WHEREAS, many immigrant residents of King County, including those who are not currently able to obtain lawful permanent residence, or live in mixed-status families, may be fearful for their lives due to federal anti-immigration laws and are especially vulnerable to discrimination, hate crimes, racial profiling, and deportation, and
WHEREAS, King County seeks to provide all of its residents fair and equal access to services, opportunities, and protection irrespective of origins or immigrant or refugee status, and
WHEREAS, in 2009, King County enacted Ordinance 16692 prohibiting a county office, department, employee, agency, or agent from using the citizenship or immigration status of any individual to condition the provision of county services, except where required by federal law, and also prohibiting the sheriff's office from requesting specific documents relating to a person's civil immigration status for the sole purpose of determining whether the individual has violated federal civil immigration laws, and
WHEREAS, in 2010, King County enacted Ordinance 16948, kn...
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