OLYMPIA — Cold hands raised monarch butterflies above the crowd on the Capitol steps Thursday afternoon.
The decorated cardboard cutouts — symbolizing the dignity and resilience of migrants — were held by some of the 400 people gathered for a rally in support of immigrant and refugee rights as a part of the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network’s advocacy day.
Access to health care for immigrants and a wage replacement program for undocumented workers are the priorities this session for WAISN, a nonprofit organization supporting immigrants and refugees.
The rally comes as raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement across major U.S. cities have stoked fear among migrant communities. The Trump administration has pursued myriad immigration-related policies in its first weeks including an executive order that targets sanctuary states like Washington.
Democratic lawmakers voiced their support Thursday, pledging to continue identifying gaps between state and federal policies to fortify protections for immigrant communities in the state.
In a statement Thursday before the rally, Speaker of the House Laurie Jinkins, D-Tacoma, said she is disappointed the federal government is “attacking basic decency and human rights,” rather than fixing the “broken immigration system.”
“In the last 10 years we have taken significant action to protect our community members, including the Keep Washington Working Act, civil legal aid for undocumented workers, banning private detention facilities, protecting access to state financial aid for students, and more,” Jinkins said.
“These protections are law. Nothing in the most recent executive orders removes these protections. If there are gaps that can be addressed at the state level, we will do so. Swiftly.”
Immigrants’ rights are a personal matter for Jerry Martinez, who was born in the U.S. but whose family is from El Salvador. The second Trump administration, he said, has brought fear for him and his family. So, he took the day off work Thursday and bused to Olympia from the Tri-Cities.
“I think being in a community with folks like the community we’re seeing here gives us resilience. It shows us hope and courage and that our community and our country is stronger than any rhetoric or fear or hate can be,” Martinez said.
The crowd mobilized at 1:30 p.m., marching silently through the center of the Capitol’s campus with their fists raised. As the group assembled on the north steps, chants of “Si se puede” (Spanish for “yes, it can be done”) and “up up with liberation, down down with deportation,” broke out.
“Washington state has taken some steps to tell the other Washington that we are not like them,” Rep. Lillian Ortiz-Self, D-Mukilteo, said to the crowd on the Capitol steps.
Rep. My-Linh Thai, D-Bellevue, the first refugee to be sworn into the Washington state Legislature, in 2019, is the prime sponsor of the Health Equity for Immigrants bill (House Bill 1482). If passed, Washingtonians, regardless of refugee or immigration status, would have access to state health care by fully funding the Apple Health Expansion Program and Cascade Care.
“Right now, many people feel fearful. They feel concerned and not sure what’s going to happen. But that’s how our relatives felt when they first came to this land,” Sen. Rebecca Saldaña, D-Seattle, said to the crowd.
“They didn’t know what to expect, but they came because they believed that their lives matter, that they can contribute and they can make a difference for themselves and for the generations to come,” she said.
Saldaña introduced legislation in previous years that would create a wage replacement program. Senate Bill 5636, and a companion House bill, were introduced Thursday. If passed, the bill would create the Washington Wage Replacement Account to provide unemployment benefits for eligible and qualified workers who are unable to receive benefits from the Employment Security Department due to immigration status.
During the first Trump administration lawmakers passed the Keep Washington Working Act with bipartisan support in 2019. Under the act, local law enforcement cannot arrest or detain someone with the sole purpose of investigating their immigration status even if at the request of a federal agent.
To protect against the Trump administration’s threat of mass deportations, Gov. Bob Ferguson signed an executive order Monday, establishing a Family Separation Rapid Response Team to help children whose parents are deported.
Ferguson said the president has a lot of legal authority when it comes to immigration, but the state, he and Attorney General Nick Brown vowed to push back against the Trump administration should it overreach. Brown’s lawsuit filed Jan. 22 led to a nationwide block on Trump’s attempt to revoke birthright citizenship.
Seattle Times staff reporter Shauna Sowersby contributed to this report.
