Local

Burien voters may choose to repeal ‘sanctuary city' ordinance on November ballot

BURIEN, Wash. — King County elections staff announced on July 21 that a group attempting to repeal a Burien ‘sanctuary city’ ordinance succeeded in getting enough verified signatures from Burien voters, during their 10-day filing extension.

The group initially fell short of the required number of signatures, but according to King County Elections procedures, they had another 10 calendar days to meet their goal.

While the term ‘sanctuary city’ does not come up in the ordinance, prohibits local officials from asking about someone’s legal status or religion. This practice is common in other Western Washington cities that have identified as so-called “sanctuary cities.”

The ordinance was approved by Burien city council members on Jan. 9 in a four-to-three vote.

On July 7, a group called Respect Washington turned in signatures to repeal the ordinance. The group needs signatures from 15 percent of registered voters in the last city general election, or 3,643 signatures of verified Burien voters.

King County Elections staff determined after the 10-day extension that Respect Washington had five more signatures than the minimum required.

Now that there are enough signatures, the Burien City Council may either repeal the ordinance immediately or ask King County to put the issue on the November ballot for voters to consider.

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In order to have this issue on the November 7 ballot, this process must be done by August 1.

“It cleans up the Burien municipal code. And it hopefully removes this invitation to lawlessness and for more illegal aliens to come to the Burien community. We don’t need more,” Keller said.

Keller and others who signed the petition point out that police services in Burien are provided by the King County Sheriff’s Office, which already has a policy of not asking about immigration status.

This ordinance also prohibits Burien city employees from asking similar questions.

Elizabeth Desimone, who spoke in favor of the ordinance at the meeting in January when it was approved, said she’s disappointed by the petition but not surprised.

“Both my mother and father came from Italy, and my father came when he was 18 years old. I don’t know if he was legal or not. But all I know is that they worked hard, and they contributed to the world,” she said.

Desimone said she believes everyone has an immigrant story of some kind in their family history.

Another Burien resident, Andy Nguyen, said asking about immigration status is “good for the country, you know. But it’s kind of mean.”

Resident Jay Yamakawa said he doesn’t feel strongly one way or the other, but feels the ordinance should stay.

“I feel like it’s a courtesy that they’re trying to extend to make everybody feel as welcome as possible. And that – I don’t see any harm in that at all,” he said.

Keller said that instead, “the message should be that they should obey federal immigration (laws) and return to their country. And if they want to come back legally, they should.”

He said that the group’s efforts have already resulted in a similar referendum on the ballot in Spokane.