In a bold move on May 22, 2019, Washington state Governor Jay Inslee expanded an earlier executive order imposing provisions on state agencies, which immigration advocates argued didn’t go far enough. The added provisions make it illegal under state law to comply with federal detainer requests. “Our state agencies are not immigration enforcement agencies,” said Inslee.

This legislation is a declaration that all people are welcome, and that families will be protected from the horrors inherent to the deportation tactics employed by the current administration. As stated on the Governor’s website “I am committed to making sure that every family in Washington state, no matter how they got here, is treated fairly. I want to be clear that we will redouble our efforts to ensure that state agencies are not assisting discriminatory enforcement efforts by federal immigration officials.”

Sadly, for many confined within the Washington state Department of Corrections, the effective date of this sanctuary will come too late.

One such example is a young man named Eleazar Cabrera, who currently has an ICE detainer. Mr. Cabrera (WA DOC #361274) is scheduled for release from Monroe Correctional Complex on May 30, 2019 — a date calculated not based on the expiration of his sentence, but rather, on his good behavior.

His release date comes so soon after the executive order was signed that DOC staff have told him he will still be turned over to INS.

Now 29, he was brought to the U.S. by his mother when he was six, after his father, a police officer in Mexico, was killed in the line of duty. He and his mother were given visas to come to the U.S. due to the threat of violence. His mother (a home-owner in Washington), and one child are his only family — he has no family in Mexico.

To help Mr. Cabrera and others in the same situation, supporters can call and/or email Governor Jay Inslee, Attorney General Bob Ferguson, and the Secretary of WA DOC, Stephen Sinclair with the following message:

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Please allow Eleazar Cabrera to waive a portion of his good conduct time, thereby allowing him to remain in prison until after the effective date of the sanctuary state legislation, avoiding automatic deportation to a country he does not know, so that he may safely return to his family.

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Governor Jay Inslee
Phone: (360) 902-4111
TTY/TDD call 711 or 1 (800) 833-6388
Online contact form

Atty General Bob Ferguson
Phone: (360) 753-6200
Online contact form

Stephen Sinclair, Secretary
Washington State Department of Corrections
stephen.sinclair@doc.wa.gov
(360) 725-8810