Officials work to respond to Trump decrees

Local city and education officials on the Palouse reacted Tuesday to the Trump administration’s recent policies and executive orders regarding immigration and federal grants.

The city of Pullman put out a statement saying its police department will continue with its current community policing practices and let the federal government handle immigration violations.

“The responsibility for the enforcement of Federal Immigration Laws clearly rests with the United States Customs and Border Protection Services; not the Pullman Police Department,” the city stated.

The federal government has ramped up deportations across the country as President Donald Trump signed multiple executive orders on immigration. For example, the administration ended a policy to avoid arrests at “sensitive locations,” including schools, hospitals and places of worship, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.

The Pullman Police Department will cooperate with federal law enforcement if requested. However, the city says it will also continue to follow Washington state law “which prohibits local law enforcement from detaining people for the sole purpose of investigating their immigration status while also prohibiting local law enforcement from sharing non-criminal information with Federal Authorities regarding immigration status.”

The city says it is not making a political statement, but is working to uphold the Constitution and an individual’s civil rights.

“The Pullman Police Department continues to work hard as an organization to develop a positive and trusting relationship with all in our community, and those we serve; including undocumented individuals,” the city stated.

The University of Idaho is also grappling with Trump’s latest executive orders. Trump ordered a freeze on federal grants and loans — a move that has been temporarily blocked by a federal judge (see related stories on 1B).

UI Provost Torrey Lawrence said during Tuesday’s UI Faculty Senate that university officials are talking to its government relations experts to sort out all of Trump’s proposed changes.

“The directive was not very clear,” he said. “It created, frankly, mass confusion.”

In the meantime, Lawrence told the faculty to stay the course on their projects that require federal grants.

“If you’re working on a grant application, keep going,” he said. “If you’ve got a grant and you’re dealing with funding, keep going.”

He said the UI will make changes to its policies only if directed by the federal government, but the future remains unclear.

“It has been a very weird day to watch this evolve,” he said.

A couple of faculty members expressed concerns about Trump’s immigration policies. Professor Francesca Sammarruca said one of her Ph.D. students who temporarily visited his home in Nigeria was denied a visa to return to the U.S.

Lawrence said the UI does not have a policy that specifically addresses compliance with agencies like ICE, but said “it’s something we need to consider seriously.”

Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.