'Making the community safer': New Walla Walla group aims to support immigrants

Earlier this year, Walla Walla residents Megan Clubb and Peter Harvey grew increasingly concerned about fear among immigrants under the Trump administration as they noticed some community members were afraid to leave their homes without passports or naturalization papers.

So they decided to create a group called Partnership for Community Safety to support immigrants and non-immigrants by fundraising, helping them acquire legal status and partnering with the Walla Walla Immigrant Rights Coalition.

"We want them (immigrants) to be welcomed," said Harvey, who retired as chief financial officer of Whitman College. "We want them to feel safe. We want them to feel comfortable participating in everything this community has to offer."

He said it is "a diverse group of community leaders" across the political spectrum, including CEOs of businesses and nonprofits, educators, attorneys and a retired judge. However, none represent the views of their organizations and are part of the group on an individual basis. Currently, there are 95 members, and any Walla Walla Valley resident can join.

"Our purpose is to make sure that we are identifying ways to build trust and making the community safer," said Clubb, who retired as CEO of Baker Boyer Bank.

So far, the group has held three meetings, beginning March 9, after which it finalized a document of 12 statements signed by all members, "laying the foundation of common values."

Harvey said he hopes the statements will send a message to immigrants that the Walla Walla community cares about them and is prepared to support them if immigration enforcement actions intensify in town.

"Everybody focuses on the 10% we disagree on, and we wanted to focus on the 90% we can agree on and send a strong message to this community that we value immigrants," he said.

He also hopes the statements will help elected leaders in the Valley make informed, strategic decisions related to immigration based on these values.

One of the statements, Clubb said, was suggested by Walla Walla County Sheriff Mark Crider and states "local law enforcement's role is public safety and not federal immigration enforcement."

She said many community members are now scared to call 911, even in a medical emergency, because of their distrust of law enforcement.

"If you have a community where a large portion of people are not willing to call 911 … there's a lack of safety for the whole community if people don't feel comfortable reporting crimes," she said.

The group is working to disseminate the signed statements by sending it to community networks in both English and Spanish.

It has also been coordinating with the Immigrant Rights Coalition to determine how it can support the nonprofit instead of duplicating its efforts.

One focus will be raising financial resources for legal counsel and paperwork. It can cost immigrants and non-immigrants hundreds to thousands of dollars to apply for work authorization or obtain legal status.

For 2026, the coalition has a $100,000 budget for its emergency assistance fund, generally used to help residents with housing and immigration-related needs. So far, $30,000 has already been spent, and the nonprofit is on track to exceed $100,000, Abby Muro, the coalition's executive director, said in a previous interview with the U-B.

In the past, the coalition has been able to support every financial assistance request to some degree. This year, it began denying requests for the first time because of increased financial strain in the community under the Trump administration, Muro said.

Another challenge faced by the coalition is its limited capacity, with only two full-time staff members.

Muro said she hopes the new group can also help the coalition educate community members about changing federal immigration policies, protect them from panic caused by misinformation and expand English-language learning options.

"It's really important that we are actively educating community members on misunderstandings or inaccurate information they're receiving about immigrants being criminals and not contributing to the economy or straining our resources," she said.

At future meetings, Partnership for Community Safety members will continue working toward additional plans of action.

"I think (the creation of this group) is an opportunity to advocate conversations in different circles that maybe haven't been had before," Muro said.

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