成人X站

KTTH OPINION

Rantz: Lawmakers waste time on duplicate law after falling for fake news story

Feb 24, 2025, 5:01 AM

Photo: ICE agents make an arrest of an illegal immigrant during a multi-city operation. In Washingt...

ICE agents make an arrest of an illegal immigrant during a multi-city operation. In Washington state, lawmakers want to make sure none of them are bail bond agents. (Photo courtesy of ICE)

(Photo courtesy of ICE)

Washington legislators introduced and debated a bill to prohibit bail bond recovery agents from enforcing a civil immigration warrant 鈥 something that鈥檚 already illegal. In other words, this bill is a waste of time, essentially duplicative, and created to solve a problem that doesn鈥檛 exist. Even worse, it was inspired by a fake news story.

State Senator Yasmin Trudeau (D-Tacoma) introduced in response to a completely out of Sunnyside. In that incident, a man falsely claiming to be a bail bond recovery agent alleged that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was rolling out a program to deputize and pay civilians to detain illegal immigrants. That claim was nonsense, but Trudeau ran with it anyway.

Shockingly, she even got at least one Republican, State Senator Nikki Torres (R-Yakima), to back this pointless legislation.

Instead of focusing on actual issues 鈥 like the crime crisis plaguing the state 鈥 Democrats (and apparently some Republicans) wasted time on performative policymaking based on fiction.

More from Jason Rantz: Democrats may force businesses to pay illegal immigrants to go to court

How a fake news story created an unnecessary law restricting bail bond recovery agents

After the targeted arrest of two illegal immigrants in the parking lot of a Fiesta Foods store in Sunnyside, local leaders held a press conference to ensure the community they wouldn’t help ICE target criminal illegal immigrants. At the end of the press conference, a man took to the podium, while wearing a mask, to claim he worked as a “bounty hunter.”

“Tacoma called me and told me that as the waves go through, this is the first wave. The second and third is when they’re going to hire us,” said the man.

“… If we’re going to be deputized by ICE, we can pretty much do anything we want,” the man continued.

The man was apparently nothing more than a crank.

More from Jason Rantz:听Why would a UW librarian promote censorship?

Embarrassing justification

Before fact-checking the incident, Trudeau was hard at work on legislation making sure so-called “bounty hunters” (or bail bond recovery agents) wouldn’t be banned from enforcing ICE warrants.

“These are really scary times and communities in this Washington should know that we will not tolerate any violations of humanity and privacy, especially in the pursuit of justice and engagement with our criminal legal systems,” Trudeau said.

She then repeated the fake news story out of Sunnyside to justify the bill.

“I had no idea that this was even happening,” she said.

Torres would then correct Trudeau and note that the man out of Sunnyside was not an actual bail bond agent. But she would also go on to derisively refer to bail bond recovery agents as “glorified bill collectors” and claim that some of them are “acting as law enforcement.”

More from Rantz:听Deputies livid as anti-Trump, transgender captain given a pass for policy violation

A total waste of time

Making matters more comical? A restriction on immigration enforcement聽already exists.

Under Washington state law, bail bond recovery agents must have a contract through a bail bond agency. Meaning, they’d be dealing with someone already in the criminal justice system who skipped out on bail, and they’re coming to collect.

Bail bond recovery agents can’t merely arrest people, even if they’re in this country illegally. They must carry the contract with the bail bond agency during their interactions tracking down their targets.

Adding any language specific to prohibiting serving ICE warrants is performative politics. And it’s an absolute waste of time.

Listen to The Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3-7 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the聽podcast here. Follow Jason Rantz on聽,听,听听补苍诲听.

Jason Rantz on AM 770 KTTH
  • listen to jason rantzTune in to AM 770 KTTH weekdays at 3-7pm to The Jason Rantz Show.

Jason Rantz Show

KTTH Opinion

...

MyNorthwest Video

Video: Amazon with a not so Prime move

Amazon… had a bad day. And their idea to put a tariff tag on items? Beyond foolish. Enjoy a Double Shot鈽曗槙 Listen to The Jason Rantz Show weekdays from 3 p.m. – 7 p.m. on AM 770 KTTH or on-demand wherever you listen to podcast Listen to the Jake and Spike Show every weekday from […]

5 hours ago

Anecdotally, it seems there's more needle use as, perhaps, the fentanyl flow has slowed down. (Phot...

Jason Rantz

Rantz: First 100 days of Donald Trump has meant fewer drug overdoses in Seattle

Explore how Trump's policies impacted drug overdoses in Seattle amidst Biden's border challenges and fentanyl crisis.

1 day ago

...

MyNorthwest Video

Video: Hackers altered audio messages at Seattle crosswalks

Several crosswalk buttons had been altered, a while back, to play fake audio messages. One crosswalk message was changed to say, 鈥淗i, I鈥檓 Jeff Bezos. This crosswalk is sponsored by Amazon Prime with an important message, Please don鈥檛 tax the rich, otherwise, all the other billionaires will move to Florida too鈥︹濔煒傪煒 Enjoy another Double Shot!鈽曗槙 […]

1 day ago

...

MyNorthwest Video

Video: Last week on Double Shot

In last week鈥檚 episodes, the guys tackle girls鈥 flag football, a weird celebrity couple, one-hit wonders, and we go behind the scenes. 鈽曗槙 Listen to The Jason Rantz Show weekdays from 3 p.m. – 7 p.m. on AM 770 KTTH or on-demand wherever you listen to podcast

1 day ago

An "extremely unsanitary man" took a King County Metro bus in Seattle out of commission. (Photo: Ja...

Jason Rantz

Rantz: ‘Extremely unsanitary man’ soils Seattle bus, King County Metro lets him walk

An unsanitary man disrupted a Seattle bus, raising concerns about public safety and inadequate responses from security personnel.

5 days ago

...

MyNorthwest Video

Video: Are one hit wonders overrated?

When it comes to music, what artist or song is the most overrated? Let us know in the comments! Enjoy another Double Shot. Listen to The Jason Rantz Show weekdays from 3 p.m. – 7 p.m. on AM 770 KTTH or on-demand wherever you listen to podcast

5 days ago

Rantz: Lawmakers waste time on duplicate law after falling for fake news story