Last week, city of Duvall officials approved a resolution to declare their city a safe and welcoming city, emphasis on the lowercase letters, and Carnation officials seem to be ready to follow suit, following an extensive public comment session at the Feb. 21 Carnation City Council meeting.

“Council took a good deal of public comment, there was a lot of interest,” said Phil Messina, which lasted for more than an hour of the meeting. A majority of people were in support of a welcoming resolution but at least two were opposed. The discussion, along with other city business, extended the meeting for several more hours.

“The consensus was not to go into the Welcoming City program, but the council did ask staff to bring back a resolution based on the city of Duvall resolution,” Messina said, “a resolution that says we welcome everyone.”

Both cities had been approached by citizens to join the Welcoming Cities organization, established by Welcoming America (https://www.welcomingamerica.org), earlier this month and both determined that they needed more information before committing to such a resolution.

On Jan. 25, President Trump signed an executive order to cut federal funding from any “sanctuary jurisdiction” that did not enforce U.S. immigration law.

Duvall Mayor Will Ibershof, citing “significant risk to the city” in potential loss of federal funding based on that order, proposed an alternative resolution at the Feb. 7 Duvall City Council meeting.

The proposed resolution declared the city of Duvall to be “a welcoming, inclusive and safe community for all who live, work and visit here,” and the council and mayor to be “committed to joining with the people of Duvall in opposing hate, violence, or any acts of intolerance committed against our community members.”

Council members proposed small revisions to Ibershof’s resolution, which was adopted last week.

“It reaffirms that Duvall is a safe and welcoming community,” said Duvall City Administrator Matthew Morton, “We’re not going to discriminate.”

Morton noted that the resolution did not include specific direction to the local police department regarding questioning individuals about their immigration status. Also, the city contracts for its prosecution and incarceration services with King County, which along with the cities of Seattle and Tacoma, already belongs to Welcoming America.

“If someone has a warrant, we turn them over to the authorities,” he said, adding that the city had some “practical experience” with the issue several months ago, when police arrested and jailed a Latino man who was in the country illegally. The city did not learn of the man’s immigration status until January, when county officials informed them.

Carnation also contracts with King County for courts, jail and police services.

Morton said that while many people have been in support of the resolution, others have asked why it’s even necessary.

“Actually, we have a lot of immigrants, he said. “We have a lot of tech workers from all over the world, so it is germane to our community.”

Also, he said, “We recognize that diversity has been a benefit to the U.S. as well as our community. From our value system as a community, we embrace the things that make us stronger.”