Spokane eyes $100K from police budget to subsidize ‘undocumented’ immigrants

The Spokane City Council may allocate $100,000 to a “community justice fund” that would provide taxpayer-subsidized “emergency aid” to undocumented immigrants through December.

Deputy City Administrator Maggie Yates ran the officials through the proposal at the request of Mayor Lisa Brown’s office during a weekly committee meeting on Monday. It follows a letter that the Spokane Immigrant Rights Coalition sent to Brown in September requesting funding to offset recent grant cuts.

The coalition is a group of advocates, nonprofits and religious organizations that created SIRC in 2018 and has distributed $30,000 in legal aid to immigrants annually since 2021. Funding applications posted on SIRC’s website state that the money “serves immigrants regardless of immigration status.”

“This is money that is going to make a quantifiable difference in people’s lives,” Councilmember Paul Dillon said Monday, “in the hope that we can build something that is more sustainable for the future.”

The proposal comes amid tensions across Spokane and Washington state as President Donald Trump carries out his immigration agenda. Border crossings are now at a historic low after millions of people entered the United States illegally under the Biden administration, following Trump’s first term in office.

According to the Sept. 17 letter, SIRC has allowed “undocumented” immigrants to use its $30,000 in annual grant funding for legal fees, transportation to court, housing assistance, healthcare, and food.

The coalition distributed around $43,000 from January 2024 to July 2025 to more than 72 individuals.

SIRC has scaled back the amount of aid it distributes since losing grant funding in June 2025, framing this proposal as a way to offset those cuts. If approved, the $100,000 would go to a “fiscal sponsor,” since SIRC isn’t set up to manage government funding, who can retain 8% as an administrative fee.

“I would seriously question whether or not we should be contracting with an organization that does not have a [501(c)(3)],” Councilmember Michael Cathcart said, “meaning that they can use dollars for political purposes, and whether or not we are either directly or supplanting those sorts of efforts.”

Monday’s agenda lists Muslims for Community Action & Support as the fiscal sponsor. SIRC also directs immigrants to email MCAS after submitting the funding application. The coalition has received funding from the city, state, and other organizations for years, but it’s unclear where the $30,000 comes from.

SIRC has received funding through a variety of sources over the years. The Center Square reached out to MSAC and to the only general contact listed on SIRC’s website to learn more about the funding and what led to the cuts last June, but didn’t receive an immediate response before publishing on Monday.

SIRC lists Jeff DeBray, eastern Washington director for Fuse Washington, as its general contact online.

DeBray’s email sent an auto-reply stating that he would be out of the office from Monday until Feb. 20.

Fuse is a progressive advocacy group that operates a donation page for SIRC and has endorsed Brown and other Spokane progressives on the campaign trail. Another nonprofit, Better Health Together, also allocated $30,000 to SIRC in 2021 through an “Anti-Racism” grant program, and then again in 2023.

“If you visit their website right now and you click either the volunteer or the donate buttons, it does take you to a form powered by Fuse,” Cathcart said. “[which] is involved in many political campaigns.”

he 2023 award listed SIRC and Fuse Innovation Fund as joint recipients. Notably, BHT is an offshoot of Empire Health Foundation, another nonprofit group now known as Waters Meet Foundation, which has also received funding from the city and operates a separate advocacy fund largely aligned with Fuse.

The city previously allocated SIRC $45,000 in pandemic relief aid, and Providence listed SIRC among entities that received funding from its own coffers in 2025. While it’s unclear where SIRC’s $30,000 in annual legal aid comes from, the coalition verifiably receives funding from several different sources.

SIRC cofounder urges council to reject proposal

Jennyfer Mesa, executive director of Latinos En Spokane, testified Monday on her own behalf, urging the council not to allocate funds to SIRC because the city didn’t let anyone else compete for the funding.

Another member of Latinos En Spokane voiced concerns for the same reason. Mesa cofounded SIRC but later stepped away, and had just returned Monday from Texas. Mesa said she was helping a client who was “deeply harmed” by a SIRC employee who wasn’t authorized to practice in legal immigration.

Mesa said that since SIRC isn’t set to receive funding directly, spending could go “largely unchecked.”

“Because it’s not an established organization, it’s not a 501(c)(3), there [are] inherent limitations in governance, fiscal accountability and oversight,” Mesa warned the council on Monday. “Simply passing out money right now is not always the greatest solution, especially when we have so many urgencies.”

Jerrall Haynes, director of the city’s Office of Civil Rights, Equity & Inclusion, told the council that this $100,000 proposal came out of a series of roundtable discussions with immigrant leaders last year. He and Sebastian Ruiz, a research assistant for Washington State University representing SIRC, briefed the council with Yates on Monday after Mesa raised concerns, and others asked the dais for support.

When addressing the concerns about pass-through funding, Ruiz argued that 92% of the money will go directly to immigrant households, as MSAC can retain the 8% overhead fee. Yates said the city did an “informal” competitive bidding process and that $100,000 comes from the city’s police budget.

“I don’t know if the contract line item is specifically identified, but it’s in their community outreach investments [budget],” Yates said. “Their contract explicitly identifies what the funds can be used for.”

According to the proposal, SIRC is prohibited from using the money to subsidize legal representation or lobbying activities; however, it doesn’t specify how SIRC can spend it other than on emergency aid.

Yates said the $100,000 could be spent on housing assistance, groceries, transportation and “etc.”

If approved, SIRC would be required to provide the city with quarterly data on applicants’ reported nationalities, ZIP codes, household sizes, and the intended use of funding. Four individuals testified in support of the SIRC’s “community justice fund” on Monday, including a self-identified SIRC member.

“Not only do I encourage you to fund this, but to fund it quickly. If it’s possible to suspend the rules to get this on the docket for y’all to vote on,” Amy McCollum said Monday, “I think you should do it.”

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Source: Spokane eyes $100K from police budget to subsidize ‘undocumented’ immigrants