‘Bring it on': Sheriff pushes back after blue state leaders sue to stop immigration enforcement

Fox News

18-03-2025

Klickitat County Sheriff Bob Songer is calling out the "lunacy" of Democratic leadership in deep blue Washington after state Attorney General Nick Brown launched a lawsuit against one of his colleagues for helping enforce immigration law.
"They honestly feel that they can just run over everybody," he said, adding, "Bring it on, I'll fight them."
Brown, a Democrat, sued the Adams County Sheriff's Office on Monday, accusing the office of "illegally collaborating" with federal officials and the Trump administration.
The lawsuit, which was filed in Spokane County Superior Court, claims that the Adams County Sheriff's Office's holding of illegal immigrants in custody based on their immigration status, helping federal agents question people in custody, and "routinely" sharing personal confidential information of Washington residents with federal officials "expressly violates state law."
The suit cites a 2019 law called the Keep Washington Working Act, which prohibits law enforcement in the state from providing aid in immigration enforcement. Brown is asking the court to force the Adams County Sheriff's Office, led by Sheriff Dale Wagner, to comply with the Keep Washington Working Act.
This comes the same week that U.S. Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks posted on X that agents had partnered with the Spokane County Sheriff's Office to arrest a Mexican national and suspected illegal firearms dealer, including rifles, shotguns and pistols.
A representative for the Spokane County Sheriff's Office declined Fox News Digital's request for comment.
Songer, who has vowed to help ICE, told Fox News Digital that the attorney general's lawsuit is part of a broader effort by Washington's leading Democrats, including Gov. Bob Ferguson, to intimidate sheriffs into complying with the state's sanctuary policies.
He shared that two days after Trump's inauguration his office received a public records request from an individual named Charles Harvey for all of his personal and official phone, text and email communications with federal authorities from 2021 until the present. The request stated that if any communications between Songer and ICE were found they would be reported to the attorney general's office.
"In my opinion, it's lunacy. They are whack nuts," he said. "Why would a governor and legislator and Brown, the new attorney general, why would they not want law enforcement to cooperate with ICE to go after bad people that are illegally in our country that have committed felonies and very serious felonies?"
He commended Wagner and the Adams County Sheriff's Office for standing their ground, calling the attorney general's lawsuit "flat ridiculous."
Songer said he would not be intimidated by the threat of investigations or lawsuits because he believes the Constitution is on his side.
"I hope my fellow sheriffs will stand up to the governor and this state and tell them these laws are unconstitutional and we're not going to cooperate," he said. "We just need to pay attention and follow the Constitution and I think if we do that, we're going to have a better country."
"Citizens come first," he concluded. "And I pray, I absolutely pray for Tom Homan to come to Washington state, the blue state and sanctuary state, because I really believe Ferguson, Brown and their cohorts, elected politicians, are in violation of federal law. And if they are, lock them up."