A 19-year-old honor roll student about to start her freshman year at the University of Washington. Two caregivers of vulnerable people, including someone requiring round-the-clock attention. A father of three on his way to a plumbing job. A Laotian refugee.
All were recently detained in Washington state by immigration agents, and they're but a sampling of those affected by an immigration enforcement crackdown that has significantly stepped up over the past few months, advocates said at a Tuesday news conference in Seattle.
More than a half dozen organizations came together at Casa Latina, an organization devoted to Latino economic empowerment, to call attention to the impact of ceaseless detentions and to issue a plea to elected officials and ordinary residents to get involved.
“The surge is here," said Roxana Norouzi, executive director of the immigrant advocacy group OneAmerica. "It is happening right now, right here, to us in our home in Washington state."
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests in Washington climbed steadily after President Donald Trump took office again, slowed down early this year after federal agents killed two American citizens during an ICE surge in Minneapolis, then began ramping again in spring. The latest data obtained by the University of California's Deportation Data Project shows ICE in Washington arrested more people in July — roughly 700 — than at any previous point under the second Trump administration.
Arrests have not let up since then, according to advocates across the state. As in many other places in the country, enforcement actions here usually happen out of public view, except for photos and videos taken by witnesses shared on social media or on encrypted messaging platforms.
At Tuesday's news conference, an altar for the upcoming Mexican holiday Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, included pictures of people who have been detained or deported. A scroll unfurled onto the floor carried the names of dozens of people whom advocates said have died in detention or during ICE arrests nationwide.
As a choir sang, people were invited to place orange marigolds on the scroll to remember someone they know personally who has been detained or deported. About 20 marigolds lay on the scroll by the time the singing stopped.
Alondra Miranda Garcia spoke about her father, who was detained Oct. 17 and is now being held at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma. "He's a hardworking, humble man who has spent over 23 years building a life centered around his family," Miranda Garcia said.
"Now, we are left wondering when we will see him again," she continued. "We are trying to explain an absence to two little children who are too young to understand why Grandpa is not home."
In an interview after the news conference, Miranda Garcia said her father lives in Federal Way and was stopped in Normandy Park on the way to a plumbing job early in the morning. She and her sister-in-law Madeline Garcia, also at the news conference, said they visit him every day at the detention center, though it isn't easy because of limited visiting hours and their jobs as healthcare workers.
Lucy Vázquez-Martínez, field director at SEIU 775, told the story of the two caregivers who were arrested. One went to a convenience store in the middle of their shift and was detained there. "Our member was so worried and scared, not just for his safety but for the safety and the care of his client who was waiting for him at home," she said.
The other caregiver, who looked after the person needing round-the-clock care, was detained at a check-in with immigration authorities, Vázquez-Martínez said. Due to the detention, the client went without care for several days and had to be hospitalized, she said.
Travis Pace spoke about a friend who was detained, a Laotian refugee. Unlike most people arrested by ICE recently, Pace's friend has a criminal record. Past convictions between 2009 and 2016 include possession of a controlled substance and vehicle theft, according to ICE spokesperson Jason Chudy.
But Pace said his friend had moved to Washington from California for a fresh start. Without a job initially, he would go around to neighbors in Port Angeles, where he lived, helping people do yardwork and stack firewood.
"America's better off with these people in it," Pace said.
ICE agents haven't just been making more arrests, they are also using increasingly aggressive tactics, advocates said. Palmira Figueroa, a member of the King County Immigrant and Refugee Commission, participates in a rapid response group whose members go out to sites where there have been reported ICE sightings and arrests. She said such responders are seeing agents brandish pepper spray and guns, and some people have been seriously hurt while being detained.
"If this is what happens when we're watching, when we're taking video, what is happening when we're not," Figueroa said.
A Department of Homeland Security statement said ICE agents "are trained to use the minimum amount of force necessary to resolve dangerous situations to prioritize the safety of the public and our officers. Officers are highly trained in de-escalation tactics and are required to receive annual refresher use of force training or face disciplinary action.
Figueroa and others at the news conference encouraged people to join rapid response groups and to find other ways of supporting immigrants. Advocates also called upon elected officials to invest more money to help families affected by immigration enforcement and to cut off access by immigration officers to state Department of Licensing data.
A national computer system used by various law enforcement agencies, called Nlets, provides licensing information, which can help immigration officers identify people who do not have legal status in the U.S.
Gov. Bob Ferguson says he has taken many steps to limit access to data used for immigration enforcement, including blocking searches of Nlets by ICE accounts. “There are only a handful of states that have taken this step, and Washington is one of them,” said Ferguson in a statement.
But other federal agencies have access, which may be how immigration agents continue to get licensing information.
As of October, the University of Washington Center for Human Rights has documented 356 cases of immigration arrests linked to driver information.
Seattle Times staff reporter Ann Duan contributed to this story.
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