Jacob Dimond / jake@yelmonline.com
As Washington state Senate Bill 5068 continues to pick up steam, Pierce County Sheriff Keith Swank has made his stance clear on the proposed law, as he posted to X on Wednesday, March 26, stating “the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office will not be hiring non-citizens under my watch.”
SB 5068 would extend eligibility for employment to all United States citizens or “persons legally authorized to work in the United States under federal law.” Swank shared his strong opposition to allowing non-citizens to join police agencies in the online post.
“SB 5068 allows police agencies to hire non-citizens to be police officers and deputies. This means that non-citizens will be able to take away the rights (detain, arrest, shoot, kill) of citizens. I’m shocked that every state senator voted for the bill,” Swank wrote. “The Pierce County Sheriff’s Office will not be hiring non-citizens under my watch.
“Some people try to compare joining the military to being a law enforcement officer. When you join the military, you (hopefully) don’t arrest citizens. This is a straw man argument. I support non-citizens joining the military, not law enforcement,” he added. “Even if I wanted to hire non-citizens, how would I vet them? Our background checks are deeper than top secret clearance (aren’t you glad?) We go clear back from the day you were born. How do I do that for someone from a foreign country?”
On Monday, March 31, Swank told the Nisqually Valley News that he’s “quite confident” that SB 5068 will be passed. The proposed bill is currently on its second reading in the House. In the original bill, it stated that “a general authority Washington law enforcement agency or limited authority Washington law enforcement agency may consider the application of a citizen of the United States or a lawful permanent resident.”
That was later amended to “a general authority Washington law enforcement agency or limited authority Washington law enforcement agency may consider the application of a person who is legally authorized to work in the United States under federal law for any office, place, position, or employment within the agency.”
“SB 5068 allows anybody who is legally working in America to be a law enforcement officer. That doesn’t mean you have a green card or that you’re working on becoming a citizen. It just means if you’re eligible to work, you can be a police officer,” Swank told the Nisqually Valley News on Monday, March 31. “No federal law enforcement, not the FBI, CIA or ATF, hires anybody who isn’t a citizen. In addition to that, if you’re not a citizen you can’t own a handgun. You can’t own guns unless you have a special permit, and usually that’s for green card holders. The state Legislature passed laws that say to become a legal gun owner, there’s all these rules and regulations in order to buy a gun. But if you want to be a non-citizen law enforcement officer, you’re allowed to have a gun. Isn’t that the craziest thing in the world?”
Swank said within Pierce County, he’s seen mostly support for his posts online, adding they don’t want non-citizens performing law enforcement duties.
“It’s been positive. I heard there was a post on Facebook from KIRO and that people from King County were saying things negatively about me. I haven’t seen it, but that’s King County and I’m the sheriff of Pierce County. If the people of Pierce County are behind me, that’s great,” Swank said.
The Pierce County sheriff said he hasn’t had conversations with nearby sheriffs in relation to SB 5068 yet, as immigration has been occupying a lot of sheriff’s offices in the state. He’s hopeful they’ll hear about his stance on the proposed bill and reach out to have conversations about it.
“I think the communities we serve won’t have faith and trust in us. If you can bring somebody that’s a non-citizen in here to be an officer, to arrest us, to use force on us including deadly force, then we don’t have faith or trust in you anymore and I don’t blame them. It’s unfathomable to me. I don’t understand why people are trying to pass this. It’s unfathomable to me to see somebody who is a non-citizen arrest our citizens,” Swank said. “There’s lots of reasons there’s problems with it. One of the things is if you’re not a citizen of the United States, where are your loyalties? Where are you from? How do we do a background check? It’s very problematic to me.”
