WASHINGTON STATE

Washington State House Democrats

HOUSE DEMOCRATS

1st LD legislators respond jointly to federal executive order pertaining to refugees, immigrants

Sen. Guy Palumbo (D – Maltby) and Reps. Derek Stanford (D – Bothell) and Shelley Kloba (D – Kirkland) have jointly released the following statement on the recent federal executive order pertaining to refugees and immigrants:

“The legislators of the 1st Legislative District stand united in opposition to this reckless and discriminatory executive order. It is counter to Washington state’s values of inclusion, diversity and freedom.

“Our district is home to families from a diverse array of cultural and religious backgrounds. It is also home to thriving, world-renowned businesses that rely on the talent and innovation a diverse workforce ensures. We share the concerns of technology companies, many of which have a presence in our district, about the negative impact of this Executive Order on their employees.

“We are also concerned about potential to harm one of our state’s largest employers – Boeing. The Executive Order could jeopardize a nearly $17 billion dollar order of Boeing planes by Iran. The cancellation of this order could put many hard-working Washingtonians out of work.

“But the most distressing result of this Executive Order is the stress and uncertainty it has created for families in our communities, students at our higher education institutions, and children in our schools.

“This disruption doesn’t make us safer, because it doesn’t target the countries from which terrorists have come. Additionally, our nation already has a robust vetting process for refugees.

“We reject efforts to divide our communities, our state, and our nation based on discrimination of the religion or national origin of immigrants and refugees.  As state representatives, we are limited as to what we can do regarding federal issues like this, but there is a specific legislative effort we are strongly supporting.  Senate Bill 5308, and House Bill 1956, would prevent our state institutions from being used to collect information for a religious registry.

“We hope one of these measures is passed by the Legislature this session.”