Spokane mayor proposes giving $100,000 of police outreach dollars to immigrant aid group as another nonprofit says it deserves the allocation

Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown on Monday proposed spending $100,000 of the police department’s public outreach dollars to boost an emergency fund for the Spokane Immigrant Rights Coalition, a group of nearly a dozen local immigrant and refugee support organizations.

The coalition’s Community Justice Fund, which would receive the funding, is used to provide time-sensitive financial assistance to immigrants and refugees that the coalition’s member organizations could not otherwise respond to fast enough, said Sebastion Ruiz, policy liaison for Mujeres En Action, a member organization.

“To give you a sense of the eligible expenses that we’ve paid for in the past … sometimes immigration check-ins or hearings in Tacoma, the dates of those can change with very short notice, meaning households have to drop everything,” Ruiz said Monday. “So we’ve often had to pay for transportation, temporary lodging, short-term childcare or interpretation services … we’ve also had to pay for required medical exams for immigration hearings.”

Councilman Michael Cathcart questioned the source of funding, whether the funds could be used for lobbying and whether the coalition’s affiliation with Fuse Washington, a left-wing political advocacy organization that has previously supported Brown and the election efforts of other liberal politicians in the region, was appropriate.

In a brief interview, Councilwoman Kitty Klitzke noted that the $100,000 would come from an outreach fund in the police department, not the department’s general budget.

“That was a choice by (Police Chief Kevin) Hall, and it’s fair for him to make that choice if he feels that would improve the relationship between the community and police officers,” Klitzke said.

Deputy City Administrator Maggie Yates clarified that the coalition’s contract excluded the use of the funds for lobbying or for legal representation.

In an interview, former Councilwoman Lili Navarrete, who serves in the coalition’s leadership but spoke in her personal capacity, noted that Jim Dawson, program director of Fuse Washington, had helped launch the coalition and initially led it, but that the coalition was now led by Ruiz and Margot Mejia, a representative of Refugee and Immigrant Connections of Spokane. Jeff DeBray, Eastern Washington Director for Fuse, is still listed as a member of the organization’s leadership.

The proposal also was opposed by Jennyfer Mesa, the executive director of Latinos En Spokane, which was once but is no longer a member of SIRC.

Mesa broadly argued that her organization should have been the one receiving the funds. At the committee where the proposal was introduced, Mesa accused the city of failing to notify her organization of the funding opportunity and argued that SIRC is not led by people of color or immigrants and was not set up to properly administer the funds.

City Hall officials argued that the funds had been appropriately opened up to relevant organizations and that the Spokane Immigrant Rights Coalition was legitimately selected. Yates also clarified that, while the coalition itself was not a registered nonprofit, it legally administered funds through a properly registered member organization.

The proposal for the fund was developed at the request of a number of community organizations that sent a letter to city, county and other leaders in September outlining ways governments could help immigrants and refugees. Latinos En Spokane signed the letter, but didn’t respond to an invitation to participate in further meetings on the topic, said Councilman Paul Dillon.

Ruiz and Navarrete both also noted that SIRC is led by people of color.

“I don’t understand what Jennyfer’s issue is,” Navarrete said.

Mesa also claimed the coalition could not be trusted to handle the funds, pointing to a “SIRC employee” not trained to provide legal aid who she said had endangered the immigration case of Arnoldo Tiul Caal and his 10-year-old daughter Karla Tiul Baltazar, a Logan Elementary School student, who were detained by immigration officers in January and released on Friday.

Mesa, who did not return a request for comment, apparently was referencing Olga Lucia Herrera, a volunteer who said she is not affiliated with SIRC and who had been helping the family through court proceedings and regular check-ins with immigration officials. Mesa has questioned her work helping immigrants in recent days.

“This is the second time Latinos en Spokane has had to intervene to correct serious errors made by SIRC representatives in clients’ immigration cases,” Mesa wrote in a letter to Spokane City Council. “Like the Tiul family, there are additional individuals whose immigration forms were completed illegally under the SIRC name.”

Tiul Caal and Karla arrived at the Spokane airport late Saturday night and were greeted by Herrera, Mesa and a large crowd of teachers and other supporters; in the midst of this reunion, Mesa accused Herrera of “turning in” the family to immigration officials, an accusation she repeated at the time in a text to The Spokesman-Review and on Monday in emails to council members. She made another reference to Herrera in a news release claiming partial credit for the family’s release.

Herrera broadly declined to comment, stating only that “I did not report, turn in or in any way initiate the detention of Karla or Arnoldo.”

“Any suggestion to the contrary is false,” she concluded.

Attempts to reach members of SIRC’s leadership to respond to Mesa’s accusations largely went unanswered.

“My understanding is Olga Lucia has helped so many people in Spokane with translations and immigration paperwork and is always upfront that she is not an attorney,” Navarrete said. “I don’t understand what Jennyfer’s intentions are. The accusations that Jennyfer is making against Olga Lucia and SIRC, you need to have evidence, because this is very serious.”

While Councilman Zack Zappone wrote in a text that he needed to look into the situation before weighing in on Mesa’s accusations, the council largely seemed to be prepared to move forward. Hours later, Councilman Paul Dillon moved to expedite approval, anticipating a vote on Feb. 23.

Jonathan Brunt contributed to this report.