WA leaders intensify opposition to federal immigration enforcement efforts

By TJ Martinell
The Center Square

Washington state elected officials are intensifying their opposition to federal immigration enforcement efforts following the shooting of a protester in Minnesota by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, along with a leaked ICE memo allegedly permitting agents to conduct raids without a judicial warrant.

Gov. Bob Ferguson at a Jan. 26 press conference renewed his push for a bill to criminalize the use of masks by law enforcement officers, and Attorney General Nick Brown encouraged residents to report ICE activity to the AGO’s bias incident hotline.

“We encourage people to report anything that concerns them,” Brown said. “It is our job, and it’s the job of state and local, both regulatory agencies and law enforcement agencies, to work through the information that we get, to respond to some of the concerns. The more information that we can receive for people expressing their concerns, the better.”

According to ABC News, the internal ICE memo indicated that agents can use administrative warrants and not necessarily rely on a warrant from a judge.

In response, Ferguson said he and Brown cosigned a letter prior to the press conference to Homeland Security Secretary, Kristi Noem stating that they would “use every legal measure to hold the federal government accountable.”

Ferguson also criticized ICE for the recent shooting of a 37-year-old man in Minnesota, who was killed while officers were attempting to arrest him for alleging approaching them with a handgun.

“ICE is, to be blunt, completely and totally out of control,” Ferguson said.

However, Rep. Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen, posted on X that “MN officials will begin to admit that the recent shooting was ‘legally justified’ but argue, incoherently, that that doesn’t matter.”

His comment was in response to remarks made by Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara that “even if there is an investigation that ultimately proves at the time of the shooting it was legally justified, I don’t think it even matters at this point.”

Ferguson said “we’ll see how things develop” regarding whether to call up the Washington National Guard. He pushed state lawmakers to pass Senate Bill 5855, which would make it illegal for local, state, and federal law enforcement officers to wear masks and allow individual arrested by one wearing a mask to sue. The bill cleared the Senate Committee on Law & Justice and is now in the Rules Committee.

Several other bills have been introduced this session targeting ICE specifically. HB 2641 sponsored by Rep. Tarra Simmons, D-Bremerton, would make it illegal for state and local law enforcement from hiring former ICE officers. The bill has been referred to the House Committee on Community Safety and is scheduled for a public hearing on Jan. 29.

Another bill also scheduled for a public hearing on Jan. 29 is HB 2648, which tasks off-duty law enforcement officers with documenting and reporting suspected federal immigration enforcement.

The Center Square reached out to Interim U.S. Attorney General for Eastern Washington Pete Serrano, who was unable to comment on the press conference.

The Center Square also reached out to the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs for comment. WASPC, which testified against SB 5855 at its public hearing, reiterated a statement by Executive Director Steve Strachan put out in 2025, in which he said that “rhetoric does not change the fact that the focus of local law enforcement is on criminal violations that affect local community safety and quality of life. We have every confidence that our state’s Sheriffs and Chiefs will neither violate state laws nor interfere with U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or federal laws and duties.”