Seattle City Wire

In response to reports of federal agents on stand-by in Seattle monitoring potential protests around federal buildings, Council President Lorena Gonzalez and the council’s Public Safety Chair Council Member Lisa Herbold stated the city stands against occupation.

“Seattle leaders have made it abundantly clear that federal local law enforcement intervention is unwanted and unneeded. Despite the collective call on the Trump administration to halt plans to come to Seattle, national and local media report that federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) are on standby in Seattle,” Gonzalez and Herbold in a press release from Seattle.gov. 

Gonzalez and Herbold said the deployment of federal agents to the city is “dangerous political theater” to intimidate and harm citizens wanting to exercise their constitutional right to protest.

“Weaponizing federal agents against the people they serve is unacceptable,” they said in the press release. “Protests demanding transformational change to a broken policing model must not be met with threats of violence from federal agents. We will not allow the Trump Administration to reign terror on the residents of the city of Seattle. We are united in our belief that debate and demonstrations are fundamental to making our city and our country better.”

Asking members of the public who plan to demonstrate or are near demonstration areas to be vigilant, Gonzalez and Herbold said individuals should have a safety plan in place and ask that citizens know their rights.

“If you are detained, you have the right to remain silent and to speak to an attorney. The U.S. Constitution provides rights for everyone, regardless of your immigration status,” they said in the press release. “Our offices will continue to monitor the federal agents’ presence in Seattle, and we will work with Mayor Jenny Durkan, Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson, Governor Jay Inslee, and our congressional representatives to halt any actions by federal authorities that violate our residents’ constitutional rights.”

The Seattle City Council unanimously passed Resolution 31948 on June 8, condemning the use of military force in jurisdictions such as Seattle that have not requested nor intend to request federal interventions.