Passed in 2019 amid escalating federal immigration enforcement, Keep Washington Working (KWW) is one of Washington’s key protections limiting state and local participation in federal civil immigration enforcement. CLS helped advance this protection alongside community partners, and today we continue working to ensure it is understood, enforced, and strengthened with input from impacted communities.
Across Washington State, immigrants, their families, and their communities continue to face harm when state and local agencies unlawfully collaborate with federal immigration authorities. These collaborations continue despite clear protections under KWW and related state laws.
We have seen these violations show up in arrests at courthouses, jails, workplaces, homes, and on roads across Washington. The consequences are serious: racial profiling, family separation, prolonged detention, deportation, and the erosion of trust in public institutions – especially in mixed-status communities that are often the first to experience harm. When people are afraid to go to court, seek help, report abuse, or engage with public systems, these violations deepen racialized inequity and make entire communities less safe.
CLS works alongside impacted communities to investigate these violations, pursue accountability and challenge the use of state and local resources in service of federal deportation machine.
CLS’s mission-driven, systems-change approach integrates litigation, policy advocacy, community engagement, and communications into a coordinated strategy. Since our last newsletter, CLS staff have investigated numerous violations of KWW and the Courts Open to All Act; met with impacted community members and partner organizations across the state; requested and reviewed public records from state, county, and municipal agencies; participated in community forums; and organized trainings on community-led monitoring and evidence gathering.
This work does not depend on one fixed tactic or a traditional lawyer-led approach. Instead, it is a responsive framework that allows CLS and community partners to adapt to changing conditions, strengthen local capacity, and help ensure that Washington’s laws meaningfully protect the people they were intended to serve.
If you have information about possible violations of KWWA and related laws, please reach out and let us know how we can work with you to address them.
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