Centralia councilor speaks out against local, federal anti-immigrant rhetoric

As the Tuesday night Centralia City Council meeting wound down, Councilor Adrianna Garibay used her routine council report time to address the nationwide tension surrounding the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and the ensuing protests.

Hours after she provided a similar speech at the Lewis County Board of Commissioners meeting regarding its proposed resolution to declare the jurisdiction a non-sanctuary county, Garibay spoke passionately for nearly eight minutes at the council meeting, advocating for Centralia to support the Hispanic and Latino communities.

Garibay immigrated from Michoacàn, Mexico, in 1998 and was appointed to the council in 2023 before being reelected that fall. During her interview in front of the council in 2023, she vowed to help the Hispanic community become “more of a part of the city because we are part of the city,” and she doubled down on that promise Tuesday.

“I don’t know how many of you have heard a kid calling to say, ‘I am scared. I don’t want to go to school anymore,’” Garibay said. “I bet everybody here probably has kids, and they know the feeling of listening to a little kid saying, ‘I do not want to go to school. I’m afraid that if I come back, my mom or my dad is not going to be there.’”

Garibay remarked that her dream growing up was to pursue higher education in the United States, as she was one of nine girls in her family. While she acknowledged that every community has bad people, most of the Hispanic community is doing the same as she did: chasing an education and a better life for her family.

“We are not criminals. We are not. I came here to work. I came here because I was looking for a better life for me and my kids. I didn’t come here to (do) things that I’m not supposed to do,” Garibay said. “When I was thinking of coming here, my only dream, because I was full of dreams, was I wanted to come to school. I wanted to study. I am a daughter of nine girls in my family. None of us could go to school because we were very poor.”

Garibay pleaded for people to “please think about how we feel” and to be rid of the rhetoric that “not only Hispanics and Latinos are mean” and are here to sell fentanyl or commit crimes, which she said often comes from parents.

“Every single country has bad people. You know what is happening in Mexico right now. You know about the cartel. Do you think I want to say that they’re good people? No. There’s mean, bad people, but not everybody. We have bad people here, too,” she said. “This is not fair. It feels uncomfortable. I don’t want to make my family feel unsafe. Please help us to feel safe. We came here just following a dream. That’s all we want. Do you want the best for your kids? Do you want the best for you?”

The councilor said she doesn’t regret moving her family to Centralia because her children are going to school and are set up for a better life. Garibay’s daughter, Cindy, also took to the podium earlier in the meeting during the public comment section to speak directly about Lewis County’s proposal to declare the jurisdiction a non-sanctuary county and affirm the rule of law. The motion to pass the resolution was not seconded during Tuesday’s county business meeting, but it could come back before the commissioners in their next meeting.

The Centralia Police Department has backed the Washington Association of Sheriffs & Police Chiefs’ December statement that local law enforcement agencies are focused on criminal violations that affect local community safety and quality of life.

“As someone who comes from a community full of immigrants, this impacts us directly,” Cindy Garibay said of the county’s proposed resolution. “I was born as a U.S. citizen, a full red-blooded American if you will, but my life would not be what it is without immigrants. It is my family history. It is my friends’ history.”

She said her relatives fear not being able to return to the places they grew up calling home, and she explained that she has been looked at differently in public and even followed recently, including at Walmart.

“I have heard often that people are only targeting those who are undocumented and criminals, and I just fear that it’s going to spread to people who are everyday citizens,” Cindy said. “I ask you, how can you tell the difference between someone who is undocumented and someone who is not? You can’t. On the surface, you can’t. It pains me to see this rhetoric being pushed around, painting all undocumented immigrants as criminals, as people who are as a collective more prone to harming our community than others, when I don’t feel that is the case.”

Swope responded to Adrianna Garibay’s public comment from the county meeting in a statement to The Chronicle and a Facebook post Tuesday. He claimed that her reaction suggested “either she didn’t read the resolution or didn’t understand that it was a reflection of Lewis County’s longstanding position.”

“We’re not violating any state or federal laws. If Councilwoman Garibay truly wants Centralia to become a sanctuary city, that’s within her authority,” Swope wrote. “But crafting a policy like that will require time, collaboration and leadership, none of which we’ve seen from her to date. Lewis County, on the other hand, remains clear and consistent in its position. We are not a sanctuary county.”

The Chronicle has contacted Garibay for a response to Swope’s comments.

Mayor Kelly Smith Johnston defended Garibay during the council meeting, adding that Centralia is one of the few cities in the nation founded by a Black couple with the “distinct intention” of being a city designed for all people.

“We were a city founded by a Black couple intending to create a place where all people can live. We haven’t always lived up to that intention,” Smith Johnston said. “Councilor Garibay, your voice is very powerful, and you’re speaking on behalf of the Hispanic population, but I know you’re also speaking on behalf of all people who may not feel like they have a voice or may feel marginalized. Here in Centralia, we have the opportunity to make the decision to live up to our original intention, purposes, values and dreams that we were founded on.”

Deputy Mayor Chris Brewer provided an anecdote from the council’s tour of the TransAlta power plant where he learned more about Garibay’s story while riding in the back of a van driving down the mine, adding that that conversation is one of his favorite moments while on council.

He told the community that “now is a good time to get to know your neighbor.”

“Right now, there is a segment of our population that feels like they are less than, and I think it’s incumbent upon all of us to reach out and bear the burdens of another right now,” Brewer said.

“We’ve got to step up. If you’re not up here, you’re still a leader in your community, in your neighborhood, in your household, in some way.”

To read more about Lewis County’s proposal to declare it a non-sanctuary county, visit: https://www.chronline.com/stories/lewis-county-non-sanctuary-jurisdiction-resolution-draws-emotional-public-testimony,382525