Sunnyside officials say police will not assist ICE; pledge resources and outreach after enforcement activity

City Manager Mike Gonzales said Sunnyside will not assist federal immigration enforcement and pledged the city would work with community groups to provide information and services after recent enforcement activity in the city.

"Sunnyside will continue to stand by its position of not assisting ICE in these operations," City Manager Mike Gonzales said. "What we can control are our own actions and our commitment to our residents."

The announcement came at a press conference called after videos and social-media posts showed federal agents conducting operations in Sunnyside’s lower valley. Officials and community leaders said the activity has stirred fear among residents and disrupted daily life, and they described immediate steps the city and local organizations are taking to inform and protect residents.

Chief Layman, of the Sunnyside Police Department, told the gathering that police do not cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement or HSI and that a state statute provides the department’s framework. "The Sunnyside Police Department does not cooperate with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement or HSI," Chief Layman said. "It is actually a state law. It's RCW 1093-160 that was passed in 2019 that doesn't allow us to work with ICE ... We don't provide them information either." He added that department officers do not carry a federal commission and enforce state and local laws only.

Gonzales said the city does not have authority to stop federal agents from operating inside Sunnyside but emphasized the municipality will not join or assist those operations. He said he called the FBI to confirm that the agents in Sunnyside were with HSI after residents reported undercover vehicles making stops. "I called the FBI who put me in contact with HSI, and I said, hey. Are your guys out or not? Because I've got undercover trucks contacting people in Sunnyside. And he confirmed, yes. That's us," Gonzales said.

Mayor Dean Borjema reiterated that the City Council has not authorized activity to check residents’ immigration status and that the council’s work is focused on local services such as utilities and streets. "City council does not have this on its agenda. So we are not involved in this at all," Borjema said. "We're not gonna be investigating. We're not gonna be checking into that sort of thing."

Councilor Clance Refasto and other council members said they would work with local nonprofits, legal organizations and media partners to develop bilingual resources and a community response plan. Refasto urged reporters to verify information before publishing. "I urge y'all to really, really do your due diligence and being the bridge between false and the truth," Refasto said, noting mistrust and fear in the largely Latino community.

Officials outlined near-term steps: creating a webpage linked from the city site with English and Spanish resources; placing printed materials in the city lobby; convening a stakeholder coalition to coordinate training and rapid-response efforts; and sharing information through local media partners. Gonzales and council members named local and statewide partners they planned to involve, including Radio Cadena, Nuestra Casa, Wizen, the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NERP) and the ACLU of Washington.

State-level support was also reported. Ale Ramirez, from the Washington Department of Labor and Industries' community-relations office, said the governor had signed an executive order creating a rapid-response team to support children and families affected by enforcement activity. Ramirez emphasized that worker rights and access to state services remain in effect regardless of immigration status.

City officials and community groups announced workshops and trainings: a pair of workshops with the ACLU and partners scheduled for Feb. 8 (a morning session for service providers and a Spanish-language afternoon session open to the public, offered in person and by Zoom) and a youth advocacy visit to the governor’s office on Feb. 7 organized by the Latino Community Fund of Washington were mentioned during the meeting. Officials also said Wizen offers rapid-responder trainings for volunteers.

School and child-welfare concerns were raised repeatedly. Residents asked what would happen if a parent were detained and a child arrived home alone. Chief Layman said local police would notify the school district if officers were involved in an incident that affected children and that the department has previously sheltered children temporarily until Child Protective Services could arrange placement. City staff and councilors said they would bring the school district into planning for a coordinated response.

When asked whether Sunnyside is a sanctuary city, officials said the city has not been designated as such and the council had not voted to adopt a sanctuary-city policy in recent years. "Sunnyside has never been classified as a sanctuary city," a council member said. Officials said that regardless of formal designations, the city intends to support residents and work with partners to reduce fear and misinformation.

Officials encouraged residents to remain calm, to comply with law-enforcement directions if stopped (Chief Layman noted the public should stop for vehicles displaying red and blue lights), and to use city-provided resources for verified information. The city posted the press-conference video on its YouTube channel and provided a contact number (509-790-9729) for the link and updates.

Community leaders at the event — including representatives of Nuestra Casa, Radio Cadena and other nonprofits — said they would join the planned coalition to coordinate outreach, legal information and rapid-response training. Gonzales said the city would work closely with the governor's office and the Attorney General's Office for guidance.

The press conference concluded with officials promising further coordination and a call for community members and media to verify information before sharing it publicly. "Fact checking is gonna be everything," Gonzales said. "As long as I'm city manager here, I'm always gonna try to put the community first."