The Cowlitz County Board of Commissioners signaled at a recent meeting that it is not interested in replicating a Lewis County resolution declaring itself a non-sanctuary county.
The Lewis County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a resolution July 8 stating that Lewis County is not a sanctuary county and that law enforcement agencies are encouraged to comply with immigration enforcement "to the fullest extent permissible under state and federal law."
Washington state law limits the ability of state and local law enforcement to provide information or assistance to federal immigration authorities, and states that they cannot make arrests based only on immigration violations.
Lewis County Commissioner Sean Swope said at the July 8 meeting that the county risked losing up to $37 million in federal funding if it remained on a list of sanctuary jurisdictions published by the Department of Homeland Security.
The list was first published May 29, and included all Washington counties except Adams, Douglas, Klickitat and Yakima. It also included "Swinomish County," which does not exist, and the cities of Everett, Olympia, Tacoma, Seattle and Yakima. The list was taken down by June 1.
Cowlitz County Commissioner Rick Dahl said he was not convinced there was a real risk of counties losing federal funds, and that any conflict over immigration enforcement would most likely happen between the federal and state governments rather than with individual counties.
"I felt like it was more political grandstanding than actual fund loss," he said at the July 7 meeting.
Cowlitz County expects to receive about $14.3 million in federal funding in 2025, which accounts for 6.9% of its total budgeted revenue for the year, said Kathy Funk-Baxter, the director of finance for the county. Most of that funding will go toward road work.
Because the county's federal funding mainly goes toward non-immigration-related construction projects, it may be less likely to be pulled if there is conflict over immigration laws, Dahl wrote in an email.
A press release by the Lewis County Democrats called Swope's statements about fund loss "misleading fear-mongering" and stated that the county was only at risk of losing at most $1-2 million in federal law enforcement grants. It added that the resolution opens Lewis County to lawsuits for failing to comply with state law.
Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown sued Adams County in March, stating that the Adams County Sheriff's Office had illegally held people in custody based only on their immigration status, helped federal agents question people in custody and shared confidential personal information with immigration officials.
