Opinion: Defending the indefensible

Nancy Churchill argues that Washington’s lawsuit against a sheriff cooperating with ICE reveals a deeper political agenda that puts public safety at risk.

Nancy Churchill explains that when sheriffs are punished for doing their jobs, it’s not just politics — it’s a direct assault on public safety

Nancy Churchill
Dangerous Rhetoric

What happens when a sheriff upholds federal law and tells the truth about the chaos caused by illegal immigration? In Washington state, he gets sued.

That’s the unmistakable message Attorney General Nick Brown sent when he launched a politically charged lawsuit against Adams County Sheriff Dale Wagner for cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Sheriff Wagner’s “crime?” Cooperating with ICE and sharing information with federal authorities in an effort to protect his community.For doing his job, he got dragged into court by the same state that ought to be backing him.

Sheriff Wagner didn’t back down. He traveled to Washington, D.C., and told Congress exactly what was happening on the ground during a U.S. House Judiciary hearing titled “Sanctuary Jurisdictions: Magnet for Migrants, Cover for Criminals.”

Wagner wasn’t alone. Ferry County Sheriff Ray Maycumber, along with seven other sheriffs from Washington state, made the trip to stand beside him. Their presence sent a clear message: Local law enforcement is tired of being muzzled while illegal immigration wreaks havoc in their communities. When even sheriffs are under attack for defending the law, it’s clear that our leaders have chosen ideology over public safety.

When sheriffs are punished for doing their jobs, it’s not just politics—it’s a direct assault on public safety.

Sanctuary cities: A cover for criminals

Washington state isn’t just tying the hands of law enforcement—it’s wrapping them in chains. Under the so-called “Keep Washington Working Act,” sheriffs are forbidden from cooperating with ICE. They can’t ask about immigration status. They can’t detain illegal aliens — even violent ones. They can’t even respond to ICE detainers. In effect, state law protects illegal immigrants — even those with criminal records — while punishing law enforcement officers who try to follow federal law.

That’s not just reckless. That’s intentional sabotage of public safety. These laws are designed to shield illegal immigrants, even those with rap sheets as long as your arm, while gutting the power of sheriffs who dare to do what’s right.

Sheriff Wagner sounded the alarm in his testimony, exposing how these laws enable repeat offenders to walk free. AG Brown’s lawsuit makes it clear: Washington state is more interested in protecting political ideology than protecting people. In Washington, protecting your people makes you a criminal and shielding illegal aliens makes you a progressive hero.

Jobs lost and the economic cost

Illegal immigration is bleeding out the American working class. It’s not theory — it’s happening in every small business, every orchard, every construction site where legal wages are undercut by illegal labor.

Working-class Americans, including minorities and recent legal immigrants, are watching jobs dry up and wages stagnate while global corporations benefit and politicians virtue-signal. Ordinary citizens pay the price in reduced opportunity, rising housing costs, and increased competition for basic services.

This isn’t an accident. It’s a system designed to benefit the elite while gutting the working man. And when someone dares to expose it — like Sheriff Wagner — they’re not just ignored. They’re targeted and are silenced by lawsuits and political threats.

Drugs and death: Fentanyl at the border

This isn’t just about jobs anymore — it’s also a public health catastrophe. Fentanyl — manufactured by China, trafficked by cartels — is now the number one killer of Americans aged 18 to 45. And where’s it coming from? Across a border that until recently was wide open and barely watched.

Cartels know exactly what they’re doing. They used migrant waves as cover while slipping in deadly drugs that are poisoning our children. Under the last administration, Border Patrol agents were pulled from enforcement duties to babysit and process asylum claims — leaving smugglers to flood this country with narcotics.

Sheriffs in places like Adams and Ferry Counties are watching their towns collapse. Overdoses. Crime. Death. And instead of getting the backup they need, they get lawsuits for daring to work with ICE. And instead of empowering sheriffs to help stop the flow of drugs, Washington State law strips them of authority and drags them into court for cooperating with ICE.

Human trafficking: Real victims, fake compassion

Every politician in Olympia who hides behind “compassion” is complicit in the trafficking of women and children. The same open-border policies that let fentanyl pour in also enable human slavery to flourish.

Children are “recycled” — used over and over again to help adults make fraudulent asylum claims. Women are dragged into the sex trade. Some never make it to America at all.

Abuse, slavery, and death. That’s the price of so-called sanctuary. That’s the consequence of feel-good slogans that ignore the blood on the border. That’s the opposite of compassion.

Sheriffs like Wagner and Maycumber are trying to stop this. They are not the villains—they’re the only ones fighting for the real victims. But in this twisted reality, it’s the traffickers who walk free, while the lawmen trying to stop them get sued by their state government.

Courage in the face of tyranny

This isn’t just policy failure — it’s state-level tyranny. Communities are crumbling. Drugs are rampant. Jobs are vanishing. And the people we trust to protect us are being stripped of their authority and dragged into court.

Sheriffs Wagner and Maycumber represent the kind of local leadership we need—men who are willing to speak the truth, follow the law, and protect their people. But in Washington State, that kind of courage comes at a cost: lawsuits, slander, and threats from the very people who should be standing with them.

What we’re witnessing is moral cowardice dressed up as compassion. Sanctuary policies don’t protect immigrants — they protect criminals. And when the state uses its power to silence and punish sheriffs who follow federal law, the line between governance and tyranny disappears.

We must stop defending the indefensible. And we must start defending the brave men and women who still believe in duty, law, and country.

Nancy Churchill is a writer and educator in rural eastern Washington State, and the chair of the Ferry County Republican Party. She may be reached at DangerousRhetoric@pm.me. The opinions expressed in Dangerous Rhetoric are her own. Dangerous Rhetoric is also available on X, Substack, and thinkspot.