The City of Bellingham will likely dissolve the Immigration Advisory Board and replace it with a new work group, about seven months after city council halted the board’s meetings amid ongoing conflict between the board and the city.
Unproductive communication between city staff and the board led to the actions in February. City staff also said the board wasn’t following rules on open public meetings, among other complaints. Board members countered that they weren’t provided with enough training.
The board was established in 2019 to evaluate policies and make recommendations to the mayor and city council on immigration matters. It had a maximum of 12 members.
Council members will vote for a final time to dissolve the board on Oct. 7.
On Monday, Sept. 30, council voted to establish a work group to advise the city on its compliance with the Keep Washington Working Act, which restricts local law enforcement from enforcing federal immigration laws.
Council member Hannah Stone, who initially proposed the creation of the board in 2019, said the work group would allow some of the work of the board to continue, albeit with a “narrow but important” scope. The new work group will consist of five to nine community members and a paid facilitator.
Stone said she hopes the work group will “better serve the immigrant community and the city,” and will continue to work on recommendations from the Immigration Advisory Board that the city hasn’t properly addressed, such as issues with city employee contact with federal immigration authorities. Mayor Kim Lund said on Sept. 30 that she thinks the new work group is the “right structure.”
Lund held several meetings with Stone and council member Jace Cotton in recent months to determine the new structure. Board members were informed the week before the meeting about the plan to dissolve the board and create the new work group.
Before the city brought forward the plans to dissolve the board and replace it with the work group, members of the Immigration Advisory Board said they were committed to working with the city to update their process to begin meeting again.
“The main idea is to go back to the table, sit all together and just continue the work that will improve the life of immigrants here,” board member Homero Israel Jose Garrido said in August.
Council member Lisa Anderson said there were issues with the board, including a “lack of support from the previous administration” and a lack of clarity on what the group would focus on.
“We all take responsibility, who were elected and part of that process,” Anderson said. “… It doesn’t undo the damage of hurt feelings and disappointment and confusion.”
Council member Michael Lilliquist voted no on the dissolution, saying he had “hope for reviving this.” Cotton said he would vote no on the dissolution to be consistent with his no vote in February on halting the meetings, but said he was grateful to see a “public recommitment” from the city on addressing immigrant concerns.
New work group
The work group will evaluate the city’s compliance with the Keep Washington Working Act. Some of the work was happening under the Immigration Advisory Board, board member Holly Pai said, on a subcommittee that reviewed a list of city employee’s contacts with federal law enforcement on a regular basis.
“What I would like to see is the city enact even stronger protections around contact between the city and federal immigration enforcement,” Pai said in August.
The work group will include at least three community members with “lived experience,” at least one with community connections and at least one connected to the immigration legal field.
Charlotte Alden is CDN’s general assignment/enterprise reporter; reach her at charlottealden@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 123.
