Editorial: Initiative in Spokane targeting immigrants just wrong

The fight against prejudice in Spokane is not over.

On July 4, someone spray-painted “Death to Islam” on the outside of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Heritage Association, a Muslim prayer center in the East Central neighborhood.

It was malicious, and it was ignorant.

It was in Bosnia-Herzegovina that then-President Bill Clinton intervened in 1995 to stop the killing of Muslims by Serbians.

But what are history and facts to the prejudiced?

Take, as another example, a proposal that goes before the Spokane City Council on Monday.

Members may decide whether it should put an anti-immigrant initiative on the November ballot, or wait while some 3,600 signatures – far more than the required 2,477 – are verified.

They should let that process go forward while preparing an aggressive education effort that will underscore the contributions immigrants make to this city and region every day.

Initiative 2015-1 would wipe language off city laws that prevents biased policing as well as questions from city employees regarding the immigration status of individuals who, say, come in for a permit.

Spokane police have had an anti-bias policy for 12 years. They are allowed to ask an individual’s immigration status if they have reason to believe a suspect in a possible felony has re-entered the United States after deportation. They cannot hold someone on the mere suspicion they might be in the country illegally.

That’s the job of federal immigration officials.

In a city with high property crime and auto theft rates, Spokane police have better things to do than get involved in immigration matters.

And, as the police policy statement notes, profiling is counterproductive to effective law enforcement.

I-2015-1 is a solution looking for a problem.

Ugly campaigns like that of Donald Trump are using isolated incidents committed by a small fraction of an estimated 12 million immigrants to fan fear and hatred. But he’s much more vague when it comes to knowing the immigration status of the many workers at his hotels.

It’s too bad his fellow Republicans are not more forceful in their denunciations of his conduct.

Spokane should be more welcoming of immigrants, not less. Cities and states with large immigrant communities are among those with the most robust economies.

They start businesses. They add to a city’s cultural vibrancy.

But the message of I-2015-1 is, “You are not welcome here.”

We think this is a message Spokane should reject, and will reject. Unfortunately, it looks like it may become a wedge issue in some Spokane City Council races.

That would be wrong, as the initiative itself is wrong.

The council did right by discouraging prejudice and not overextending the city’s law enforcement resources. If we are a “sanctuary” for immigrants, they are too few, not too many.