stray rain

Olympia made a choice. In 2016, city council declared itself a sanctuary city — a commitment that the city would not cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. Thurston County followed with its own “welcoming community” resolution. The state passed the Immigrant Worker Protection Act (HB 2105) this session. Three layers of government, all aligned: we protect our residents.

None of them control the federal funding spigot.

Today, $11.9 million in Olympia’s infrastructure projects are at risk — including the $9.5 million Fones Road corridor project, the city’s largest transportation initiative. The mechanism is simple: the Trump administration declared that sanctuary cities lose federal funding. The legal challenges are ongoing, but the uncertainty is already doing damage.

Here’s what makes this worse. In February 2026, Olympia adopted a budget deficit package cutting $6.5 million. Among the eight positions eliminated: the federal lobbyist specifically tasked with securing federal funds, and the climate programs staff. The city cut the people whose job it was to defend against exactly this kind of funding threat, in the same budget cycle where the threat materialized.

The state, meanwhile, just expanded the Attorney General’s enforcement powers (SB 5925) to investigate immigration-related violations and issued gag order authority for civil investigations. That’s a defensive posture — the state protecting residents from federal overreach. But defensive postures don’t replace the $9.5 million needed to finish Fones Road.

Public Works has a contingency: use local reserves from the Transportation Benefit District and real estate excise tax. But that drains transportation reserves and delays all other infrastructure projects for two to four years. Every road, every pipe, every bridge project in the queue gets pushed back because the city chose to protect its residents and the federal government chose to punish that choice.

The people who lose aren’t the ones who made either decision. They’re the ones who need the roads.

And here’s the thread nobody’s pulled: Evergreen State College sits in Thurston County, the county designated a sanctuary jurisdiction. The college depends on a mix of state and federal funding. The county’s budget — already running an $11.5 million deficit — absorbs economic ripple effects from every institutional cut in its borders. When Olympia loses federal infrastructure money, and Evergreen cuts services, and the county freezes salaries, those aren’t three separate budget crises. They’re one crisis showing up in three ledgers.

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What you can do

This week: Attend Olympia City Council (Tuesdays, 6 PM, 601 4th Ave E, Zoom registration by 4:30). Ask during public comment: Has the city received formal communication from DOJ regarding funding conditions? What is the legal strategy?

This month: Submit a public records request to Olympia for: (1) all correspondence with DOJ regarding sanctuary status and funding, (2) the legal analysis of federal funding conditions, (3) the federal lobbyist role description and any severed contracts. Email: publicrecords@ci.olympia.wa.us

Ongoing: Contact your state legislators (leg.wa.gov) and ask: Is the state prepared to backfill federal funding to sanctuary jurisdictions? HB 2105 and SB 5925 passed, but implementation details matter. Push for the state to put money behind its stated values.

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