Immigrants and refugees should not face imprisonment in punishment for seeking asylum or a better life for their children. In the early 1970s, under Republican Governor Dan Evans, Washington state became the first in the nation to welcome refugees fleeing from war-torn conditions in their homelands of Southeast Asia. This generosity of spirit is a reflection of our American story as symbolized by the “Mother of Exiles” (the Statue of Liberty) whose torch has lit the path to opportunity for generations of our forebears.
Today immigrants and refugees face far stricter scrutiny, and a far feebler welcome. They may come initially as students, tourists, or workers recruited to our fields and our high-tech industry but our broken immigration system reclassifies too many as “undocumented” when the United States cannot process their renewal applications in a timely fashion. As recently as November 2020, nearly 4 million people were waiting for the State Department to process a visa renewal or application, a 10% increase in the backlog from the previous year.
We must halt the criminalization of immigrants who become “undocumented” through no fault of their own. Instead, we should fix outdated and discriminatory immigration policies which disproportionately harm people of color. We must halt private profiteering on the backs of men and women who are tyrannized by misanthropic nativist bureaucracies. Instead, we should return to the true spirit of Washington as a welcoming state to all who wish to call this place home. By outlawing the Northwest Detention Center instead of outlawing people, House Bill 1090 is a step back to our future.