We pulled our hair out trying to find policy daylight between the three overqualified do-gooders running to replace outgoing King County Council Member Jeanne Kohl-Welles. Ultimately, Jorge Barón’s nearly two decades of battle on behalf of immigrants, who compose nearly one quarter of King County’s population, stood out above his competition.
As the director of Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, Barón successfully pushed for laws that stopped local cops from ratting out immigrants to ICE and from hovering like vultures outside of courthouses to arrest them. He also helped secure funding for legal services that helped immigrants navigate our deliberately confusing, degrading system. The current council could use a member who knows that system well, especially given the potential for connecting more immigrants to solid jobs that will help the county solve its workforce woes.
