At least 150 protesters lined the sidewalk outside of the Sabey Corporation headquarters Wednesday evening in Tukwila, rallying against the potential of Immigration and Customs Enforcement leasing more office space in the area.
The tech publication Wired reported ICE plans to acquire more office space nationwide, including at Tukwila’s Riverfront Technical Park at 2811 S. 102nd St. Tukwila-based Sabey Corporation owns the property.
About 20 different organizations helped organize the rally, including Southend Indivisible.
What we're experiencing in our country is something we've never seen, where there is a campaign to rid our country of people of color, essentially, and immigrants and refugees," Southend Indivisible Chair Josh Castle said.
ICE and the Sabey Corporation did not respond to requests for comment. Private security walked up and down the parking lot to protect the property.
The technical park is less than a 10-minute drive from the current Department of Homeland Security's Pacific Northwest field office at 12500 Tukwila International Blvd., the scene of an anti-ICE protest last year when federal officers and Tukwila police fired chemical agents and crowd dispersal munitions on about 150 people.
Wednesday's rally comes after the Tukwila City Council voted to adopt a temporary ban on new correctional and detention centers in the city, in response to the expansion reports. The ban can remain in effect for six months, or up to one year if it's extended. The Seattle City Council is considering a similar moratorium, while Sea-Tac's council passed a ban last week.
Tukwila City Council President Armen Papyan came to the protest. He said the council is looking into what else can be done to address concerns about DHS, including potentially increasing human services funding for immigrant communities.
“We're always looking at what people have mentioned to us around what's legally possible,” Papyan said. “We’re also in communication with, like, cities around our region. We're just staying in communication around what else can be possible.”
Earlier in the week on Monday, 25 speakers took the podium for public comment during a packed Tukwila City Council meeting. City officials said a moratorium on detention centers would not affect private leases for office space.
Mayor Thomas McLeod said he met with DHS officials about six weeks ago and was given no indication of potential expansion in Tukwila. He found out through the Wired article.
"We reached out to the Sabey Corporation to say 'Is this true?' They told us we could take it at face value what we saw," McLeod said at the council meeting.
Matt Payne, 47, of Seattle, came out to protest Wednesday. He thinks the moratoriums are the least Seattle and Tukwila’s city councils can do.
"You've seen that they aren't enforcing the Constitution," Payne said. They were not taught that. It's thuggery.”
Rose Holiday, 70, of Seattle, held a sign saying: “De-ICE the lease.”
“We don't need more ICE right now,” she said as cars honked. “We need due process, not detainment. We don't need more children being rounded up.”
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