We need you: Next Monday, October 22, the Spokane City Council will vote on an important ordinance to protect passenger rights for a safer Spokane. Please speak out and show your support!

No one should have to travel in fear.

Yet federal enforcement agencies have been boarding buses in Spokane without suspicion or a warrant. These indiscriminate searches impact our community and the freedom each one of us has to travel and access public facilities like the Intermodal Center. ICE and CBP employ racial profiling methods by specifically targeting people of color, regardless of immigration status.

Now, the City Of Spokane is taking the right step with “Protecting Passenger Rights For A Safer Spokane,” an ordinance that would prevent ICE and Border Patrol from non-public spaces without a federal judicial warrant.

Join us as we urge passage of this important policy by Spokane City Council!

1. Email all of the Spokane City Council and urge them to vote yes on the Immigration Ordinance (#C35681) to protect passengers. They need to hear from you! Use your subject line to draw attention to your identity, expertise, and/or values: “Business owner for Passenger Protections!” “My family needs Passenger Protections!” “Justice requires Passenger Protections!”

2. Testify at the City Council meeting on Monday, October 22! Please arrive at 5pm to sign up and help us fill Council Chambers with supporters. The Council meeting will begin at 6pm. You will get 3 minutes.

3. Stand in support without testifying! Come to the City Council meeting to show your support — we’ll wear stickers and stand during pro-Passenger Protection testimony. Spokane City Hall is located at: 808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd, enter on Post St.

We need to have a huge turn out! Click here to share the Facebook Event and spread the word.

This ordinance that would protect Spokane’s residents and visitors from unwarranted intimidation by CBP and ICE. It would require immigration enforcement agents to get a warrant from a judge to access non-public areas of city-owned property. This would include the bus-boarding areas of the Intermodal Center where random bus searches occur.

Key talking points for your email or testimony:

  • All people have a right to live and visit Spokane without fear of interrogation by federal immigration authorities. When CBP and ICE arrest, detain, and deport a person, children lose a parent, employers lose a worker, friends and loved ones are separated, and fear spreads through the community. Spokane should not participate in the deportation pipeline – especially not at the cost of our social and economic fabric.
  • Safer and healthier communities benefit everyone in Spokane. When individuals are afraid to travel, access city services, report crime, and seek medical care, the health and safety of neighborhoods suffers. By safeguarding due process through requiring judicial warrants to access non-public areas of city-owned properties, Spokane builds trust and improves community safety and well-being.
  • Entanglement in the federal government’s anti-immigrant agenda puts the city at risk. By requiring ICE and CBP to obtain judicial warrants before accessing non-public areas of city-owned property, Spokane is protecting itself from costly legal action, defending civil rights and individual freedoms, and guaranteeing that Spokane, and not the federal government determine how city resources are used.
  • The Immigration Ordinance puts Spokane first. CBP’s unwarranted, suspicion-less bus boarding affects the lives of everyone in Spokane, impeding their ability to travel to work, school, and to visit family. The Spokane immigration ordinance will assure that federal overreach does not curtail our individual freedom to participate fully in the life of the city.

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