Metropolitan King County Councilmember Dave Upthegrove – who represents this area – released the following statement on the President’s “unconstitutional” Executive Actions effectively banning immigration based on religious identity on Monday, Jan. 30:

“I was proud to join thousands of my friends and neighbors at Sea-Tac Airport in the heart of my district on Saturday night to support those who had been unlawfully detained. This executive order was done in the name of public safety, but it makes us less safe, disrespects traditional American values, and reeks of religious bigotry and race-baiting.

“Americans have a long history of standing up for people from all religious backgrounds. When people face injustice and stay silent, I believe that it is the same as being complicit.

“I am proud to speak out against what I believe to be discriminatory and unconstitutional.”

Passed earlier Monday afternoon, the Council’s action condemns President Trump’s actions as discriminatory, unconstitutional, and contrary to the county’s adopted principles and laws the Council has sworn to uphold.

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11 replies on “Dave Upthegrove calls Trump’s immigration ban ‘unconstitutional’”

  1. And one is to care what you think about immigration policy? Stick to important county business, like raising taxes and providing heroin injection sites.

  2. This is important. To many, it’s life or death. To us native-born white Americans, it may someday be life and death if we come to be treated by other countries the way we treat them. Think business travelers, athletes competing in international games, university students, show biz celebrities, prisoners of war. I’m proud of Dave for standing up for American values.

  3. I’m proud of Dave for standing up for American values. This is important. What if we white, native-born citizens are someday treated the way we are now treating other countries? (think exchange students, prisoners of war, athletes competing in international games, business travelers, show biz celebrities). I’m sorry I missed the protest at the airport.

  4. Peter, rather than writing opinions , I will try to source facts so that everyone can form opinions based on facts, not political speech.

    The Obama administration in 2011 delayed processing only Iraqi residents for six months while the administration reviewed their clearance process. This was after two Iraqis were found to have evaded the then current process for assuring those seeking to enter had not been actively involved in al Qaeda in Iraq. Both of those Iraqis were residing in Bowling Green, Kentucky and were actively raising money and sending aid to al Qaeda in Iraq. Obama’s order did not stop entries of Iraqis who had received green cards or other clearance to travel to the USA during the six month review. The order did significantly reduce the number of Iraqis entering the USA during those next six months ( please see official State Department records for that period). The process for issuing entry documentation was changed as a result of that review.

    The current executive order initially barred for 6 months any travel to the United States for all citizens of seven countries. There are no known al Qaeda or ISIS supporters currently in the USA who evaded the current process for issuing entry documentation, so it has no current proven failures, as it did in 2011. Under several court orders, portions of the current executive order has been found to violate the due process for individuals already cleared to travel to or reside in the USA. The current executive order did fulfill a campaign promise repeatedly stated by the candidate who received almost 3 million fewer individual votes than Hillary Clinton.

    1. Interesting, a post of easily verified actual events is down rated almost as much as it is uprated. But none of the down raters actually responded with explanations of their disagreement.

      1. This is unverifiable.
        “There are no known al Qaeda or ISIS supporters currently in the USA who evaded the current process for issuing entry documentation, so it has no current proven failures, as it did in 2011.”

        How many thousands of potential Al Qaeda or ISIS supporters are under surveillance today in the US?
        I have seen stats that say there are thousands of open cases against people who support these ideologies. Why in the world would we open our doors to people who we need to watch? How many 10’s of billions of dollars is it costing the US taxpayer to do this?

    2. Speak the truth – presidents have the authority to issue executive orders as they see fit. If they are not constitutional, then they will be challenged as needed. Obama issued his executive orders, now Trump is issuing some of his own.

      The 7 countries in question are either known supporters of terrorism **OR** are in such a state of anarchy and chaos that we have no way of properly vetting those who come into our country from those countries. Given that situation, a common sense 90-day ban on anyone coming from those countries might make sense. I would rather not wait until someone comes in from one of those countries and commits a terrorist attack. Better to be safe than sorry, imo.

      Speaking of facts: we do know that immigrants from one of those 7 countries (Somalia) were found guilty of trying to leave the US to join ISIS. hmm – maybe its a good idea to slow down and do our due diligence to ensure no terrorists trying to enter the US from those countries? That said, the way this EO was implemented leaves a lot to be desired – much like Obamacare. Hopefully he can learn from this.

      Finally – yes, Hillary won the popular vote. Trump won the electoral vote and that is how our system works. As much as I didn’t want him to be our president (and I’m assuming you didn’t either), denying reality probably is not the right approach. I will applaud him when he does something good, and criticize him when he does something bad.

      As for ratings -I do not worry about how many thumbs up or down my comments get – but I do agree with Tom that even heavily thumbs down comments should not be hidden.

      1. Peter, I appreciate you given us a factual update and portraying common sense. Everybody should cheer him for the good decisions and criticize him for the bad decisions. He surely will do a lot of good things and hopefully not too many bad things. The current problem is the hysterics surrounding his decisions. It is so bad that the left would even criticize him if he were to introduce a cure for cancer. Interestingly, he got the lowest approval rating at the start of his Presidency. The other President that got a low approval rating at the start was Ronald Reagan, so if history is a guide than things can change. However, it will take quite a while before the hysterics on the left will settle to the idea that he is our President.

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