“Whatever the status of your immigration paperwork, this is your city. You deserve to be safe, to live a dignified life, and to have a say in your government.”
Socialist Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson sparked controversy Sunday after appearing to suggest that illegal immigrants should have the right to vote, while pledging free legal support and expanded protections for undocumented residents during a large anti-ICE rally in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood, site of the deadly 2020 autonomous zone.
Speaking to a crowd of organizers estimated at 6,500 people, Wilson framed immigration enforcement as a moral crisis and described Seattle as belonging to everyone regardless of immigration status.
“This is your city,” Wilson told the crowd. “People who were born here in Seattle, people who came here from across the country and from across the world. Whatever the status of your immigration paperwork, this is your city. You deserve to be safe, to live a dignified life, and to have a say in your government.”
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The remark immediately raised alarms among critics, who argue the mayor was signaling that illegal immigrants should be allowed to vote, which is illegal according to state and federal law. Wilson’s speech followed recent ICE arrests in North Seattle, the shooting of Tren de Aragua members in Portland, and the shooting death of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis. Federal officials allege Good attempted to run over ICE agents before being shot. Wilson did not acknowledge Good’s actions or that the people shot in Portland were gang members during her remarks.
Instead, Wilson condemned federal immigration enforcement broadly, accusing ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) of operating like authoritarian regimes. “There is power in us today condemning the actions of ICE and CBP and calling out our federal government’s behavior for what it is,” Wilson said, adding that history shows “other regimes” have followed “similar deadly paths.”
She also criticized ICE operations in Seattle, Portland, and Tacoma, claiming agents were “kidnapping people in unmarked vans” and subjecting detainees at the Northwest Detention Center to “unsafe and inhumane conditions.”
Wilson reminded attendees that the city, county, and state “provide legal aid resources and other support” for illegal immigrants. She added, “And my pledge to you is that we will get creative about every legal and other tool we have to protect every person who makes our city their home.”
The mayor encouraged continued public mobilization and political pressure, urging supporters to push leaders at every level of government and to imagine a “better world” beyond current immigration laws.
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Last week, Wilson faced backlash after encouraging residents to sign up for “ICE Mobilization Alerts,” an activist action system from Indivisible backed by left-wing mega-donor George Soros.
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