Pierce County PSARA Takes on Sheriff Swank

On a rainy Friday night, January 9, a number of Pierce County PSARA activist members joined with about 100 others for a protest in Puyallup.

The reasons?

• Former Trump National Security Advisor Michael Flynn was in town to support Pierce County Sheriff, Keith Swank, for a “Save Our Sheriffs” rally, intended to “preserve the authority” of elected sheriffs across the state.

• Following the murder of Renee Good in Minneapolis earlier that week, Sheriff Swank had commented on X: “PSA: if law enforcement tells you to stop, STOP. You can always sue later if your rights were violated. Even if you are right, do you want to be dead right?”

These sorts of factors led Erik Showacy and others in Indivisible Puyallup to organize the protest. PSARA activist and Indivisible Tacoma leader, Julie Andrzejewski joined the protest and commented, “We are concerned about the sheriff here in Pierce County, who has been indicating that he wants to cooperate with ICE and the deportations and that is against the law here in the state.”

She was referring to our state’s Keep Washington Working law, which restricts local law enforcement agencies from assisting federal immigration authorities. More locally, last March, Pierce County Executive Ryan Mello issued a directive reiterating this key legal point. That was followed in April by the adoption of a resolution by the Pierce County Council on the same theme.

Meanwhile, out of the rain and inside a nearby conservative church, Sheriff Swank confirmed Andrzejewski’s contentions and indicated his continued opposition to state law and county rules.

“The Executive issues executive orders that tell me that I’m not allowed, or anybody, no department, no elected official, was allowed to enter into any contract with any federal agency. Well, I know that’s unconstitutional. I’m independently elected,” he said.

PSARA Pierce County will continue to proudly join with many others in confronting Sheriff Swank.