The Seattle City Council voted 8-0 Tuesday to approve legislation limiting the sharing of personal information with federal immigration enforcement.
The bill, sponsored by Councilmember Maritza Rivera who represents District 4, prohibits all city employees from sharing non-publicly available personal information for use in enforcing civil immigration laws unless required by law or court order. The measure codifies Washington state’s Keep Washington Working law and amends the Seattle Municipal Code to provide clearer guidance on information sharing.
“This bill provides clarity by amending our code to reflect Seattle’s values and brings us into alignment with state law. There should be no confusion about where we stand, and no confusion of the law,” Rivera said in a statement.
Seattle officials have previously taken steps through Council actions and mayoral policies to protect personal information of residents and workers. In recent years, those efforts have aimed to prevent federal agencies from carrying out immigration enforcement based on data obtained from city departments.
Rivera’s bill creates a new section of municipal code explicitly prohibiting all city employees, not only law enforcement personnel, from sharing non-public personal information for use in civil immigration enforcement unless disclosure is required by law or court order.
District 4 includes Bryant, Laurelhurst, Maple Leaf, Ravenna, Roosevelt, Sand Point, the University District, View Ridge, Wallingford, Wedgwood, and Windermire.
