Exactly two weeks before Donald Trump is sworn in as president of the United States, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray and Council Member Lorena González announced details of their plan to support undocumented students who will be threatened if Trump makes good on his campaign promises.
Following up on his Thanksgiving-day announcement that he planned to set aside $250,000 to help unauthorized immigrants, the mayor today offered more details about where that money will go.
“We cannot only be about protest as we enter this uncertain time,” Murray said in a statement. “We must also act and this partnership aims to ensure that no child or family in our city lives in fear and that each resident feels welcome.”
The mayor’s office could not provide a specific breakdown of the funding, but promised the following programs:
• Counseling and peer support for children from immigrant and refugee families, including Muslim and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) students. (Seattle Public Schools will finalize how much money goes to which schools, the mayor said.)
• An online form for reporting hate speech, violence, and bias. In his comments today, Murray acknowledged that some people may not be willing to report such incidents to police, making the city’s Office for Civil Rights a potentially better place to collect these types of reports.
• An inauguration day event at McCaw Hall where students and families can attend Know Your Rights presentations and get counseling from immigration attorneys, help with documents from civil attorneys, and information about local services for immigrants.
• A series of “community education forums,” including some held in schools, at which local organizations will educate immigrant students about their rights and provide resources for those in danger of or those already in detention. This effort will also include trainings for public school teachers and staff from the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project.
Other cities and counties have taken significant financial steps to protect residents from Trump. City and county officials in Los Angeles dedicated $10 million to legal services for immigrants facing deportation. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced a similar fund of $1 million.
At today’s announcement, González recounted her parents, who immigrated from Mexico, arriving in the United States and encountering sings that read, “Mexicans cannot be served in this business.”
“Seattle is and will always be better than that,” she said.
More in NEWS
Local (and not-so-local) news from your favorite writers.
