No shit. Every illegal son of bitch is a slap in the face to those that immigrate legally.

It's obvious you guys have strong feelings on this subject. Who else do you hate?

Immigrants are the only ones keeping this economy afloat. They're better citizens than the native-born, too: they work harder, have more vibrant cultural lives, pay more taxes and get less in return, and commit less crime than the native-born.

In addition, the INS doesn't exactly have a rigorous standard of proof. It's not uncommon for them to "deport" people who are native-born citizens, sending people back to countries they've never set foot in, countries where they don't even speak the language. They don't have habeas corpus, either; it's common for detainees to rot in jail cells forever with no charges.

God bless immigrants, "legal" or otherwise. And thank you, King County, for doing the right thing. This ruling doesn't just protect immigrants, either; it protects everyone, even the Lew Siffer ass-dribbles of the world.

Ann Benson is the director of the Washington Defender Association's Immigration Project. She does not work at OneAmerica, though the two organizations share overlapping missions.

If this does end up in court, there may be a fourth-amendment argument to be made here. That's the "unreasonable search and seizure" one, right? Perhaps someone with more legal experience than I should be arguing this, like the unregistered troll.

@4:

They're better citizens than the native-born, too: they work harder, have more vibrant cultural lives, pay more taxes and get less in return, and commit less crime than the native-born.

Bullshit on all counts. Illegal immigrants come to this country with less of an education than native-born citizens. Without an education, they will always be a burden, which is why almost all immigration legislation is going to require a high school diploma or an associates degree at a minimum prior to citizenship. And a more vibrant culture? That is fucking idiotic.

I like you fnarf, but you have clearly imagined some perfect illegal immigrant. I support a path to citizenship, but I'm not going to pretend that illegal immigrants are somehow better people. They aren't. They are just people. And really, that should be the point.

Tell me if I'm wrong here. The INS can still come and get them. But we, the citizens of King County, aren't going to pay millions of unreimbursed dollars a year holding people for additional days while the INS dithers around when we have no other reason to hold them.

Any guy who's managed to make it to the US through the border has already worked harder than Reagan Dunn has in his whole life.

@10 - Yes, but if the state feels that a federal agency is acting outside its constitutionally defined powers (i.e. what constitutes reasonable detention without charges), are they not ethically required to challenge that? If it does go to court, a judge could even rule so narrowly as to say that while the state has no specific authority to defy federal authorities, in this case, the feds overstepped their bounds and must change their practices.

If it's just a simple hierarchy with no room for challenge or defiance, what purpose would the court even serve?

There are some factual errors in the article, the first of which being that the votes in favor were Gossett (D), Phillips (D), Patterson (D), Dembowski (D), and Hague (R). Joe McDermott, one of the original sponsors ended up voting no, ostensibly because of the amendments offered by Dembowski and others that got tacked on - weakening the ordinance.

Also, this is a great step forward for public safety. There's a reason that Sheriff Urquhart was one of the biggest supporters of the measure, as was SPD Chief Pugel (and Diaz) before him, and City Attorney Pete Holmes.

The Seattle Times (gulp!) has the correct tally: http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2…

@7 and @17: Thank you - fixed.

@The Haters: Local law enforcement officers and Federal Immigration authorities have DIFFERENT JOBS. Local law enforcement is responsible for public safety, ICE is responsible for enforcing immigration law. That shouldn't be a hard distinction to make. These detainer requests are entirely voluntary. The County has no legal obligation to hold people for ICE. Period.

The California Secretary of State issued a memo to that effect and other municipalities (and States!) have preceded King County in limiting their cooperation with these detainer *requests.* The sky has not fallen and those communities are safer now because immigrant communities (including citizen family and friends) are able to seek police protection from predators and because they're now less afraid to report crimes and act as witnesses.