2025 Policy Platform

Though Washington state has barred local law enforcement agencies from collaborating with federal immigration enforcement, the Department of Corrections (DOC) is exempt from these policies. As a result, immigrants who are incarcerated by the Washington DOC face double punishment after the completion of their sentencing by being transferred to immigration detention and facing deportation. We want to end the DOC carveout to protect all immigrants from deportation.

What this aims to do: This bill will provide stability and protect manufactured homeowners and residential tenants while still allowing landlords to make repairs, keep up with costs, and make a profit by capping rent increases and fees.

Why it matters: Excessive rent increases are driving people out of their homes and communities while increasing homelessness.

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What this aims to do: This bill aims to increase overall safety and equity by redirecting law enforcement capacity and resources to focus on issues of immediate safety on our roads and by creating a grant to support local initiatives that provide solution-oriented responses to non-moving violations.

Why it matters: Unnecessary low-level traffic stops and other such law enforcement interactions disproportionately impact communities of color and low-income people and can lead to entanglement in the criminal legal system, debt, and risks of encountering police brutality. For immigrant communities, interactions with law enforcement can result in being thrown into the detention and deportation pipeline.

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What this aims to do: This bill will set up important new rights and enforcement for domestic workers including wage and hour standards, sick time, anti-retaliation and anti-discrimination protections, a right to a written agreement, the right to maintain personal documents, and enforcement standards.

Why it matters: Washington’s economy is the strongest in the nation for a reason – we have worked hard to raise wages and workplace standards for millions, but domestic workers including nannies, in-home care workers, gardeners, and home cleaners have been left out of that growth. It’s time we make our economy truly inclusive by raising standards for this largely immigrant workforce that sustains so many working-class families and families of color.

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What this aims to do: The passage of this bill would provide the first-ever limitations on the use of solitary confinement in WA by narrowing the use of solitary confinement within the Washington Department of Corrections and implementing escalating reviews when someone is in solitary confinement for over 15 days.

Why it matters: In 2023, there were over 6,000 uses of solitary confinement in the Washington Department of Corrections (DOC), including for minor rule violations and arbitrary retribution. Solitary confinement causes psychological harm and the United Nations has declared that prolonged solitary confinement amounts to psychological torture.

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What this aims to do: In the backdrop of threats of mass deportation at the federal level, it is crucial to maintain our state’s immigration legal services capacity by increasing funding for the Washington State Legal Defense Fund to $10M for the 2026-2027 biennial budget to fund full direct representation to Washington residents facing deportation or at high risk of being deported.

Why it matters: Having legal representation in immigration court is generally the primary factor in determining whether someone has a meaningful opportunity to be granted immigration benefits in removal proceedings. However, except in limited situations, there is no right to appointed attorneys in immigration court.

What this aims to do: We are asking for $61M in the 2026-2027 biennial budget to continue funding the Washington Migrant & Asylum Seeker Support Project.

Why it matters: In the last few years, Washington State has seen a growing population of migrants who have recently arrived in the country and are seeking asylum. Our new neighbors need support with shelter and housing while awaiting employment authorization as well as immigration legal support and other resources so they can be better prepared for living on their own in their new country while navigating the asylum process.