The landscape of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests in Washington state has recently shifted dramatically, reflecting broader changes in national immigration enforcement policies under the Trump administration.
Phil Neff, a researcher at the University of Washington’s Center for Human Rights, emphasized the personal impact of these statistics, stating, “Every one of these records relates to the life of a human being.”
At the center, researchers monitor ICE data through ongoing Freedom of Information Act requests and collaborate with the Deportation Data Project to gain insights into current enforcement practices.
Neff noted that while this data provides valuable context for understanding immigration enforcement, it also highlights the significant lack of transparency surrounding ICE’s operations.
Recently, KUOW’s persistent requests for ICE arrest records have been consistently denied, leaving many questions unanswered.
In a notable trend over the past five months, individuals with criminal convictions have constituted a smaller portion of ICE arrests in Washington.
Data reveals that only 320 arrests, approximately 41% of all ICE arrests in the state since President Donald Trump resumed office, involved individuals with prior convictions.
These convictions cover a range of offenses, from non-violent infractions to serious crimes such as assault and murder.
In contrast, during the last five months of President Joe Biden’s term, nearly 70% of ICE arrests were of individuals with criminal records.
Despite the federal government’s claims that immigration enforcement would focus on serious offenders, recent data tells a different story.
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin has stated that “Brave ICE law enforcement are risking their lives every day to keep our communities safe from the worst of the worst criminals.”
Interestingly, ICE is also increasing arrests of individuals facing criminal charges who have yet to be convicted.
Together, those arrested without prior convictions and individuals facing pending criminal charges now represent 59% of all ICE arrests in Washington over the past five months.
This marks a significant departure from the final months of the Biden administration, where these two categories accounted for only 31% of arrests statewide.
Moreover, recent months have witnessed a surge in ‘at-large’ arrests, targeting individuals who have not complied with removal orders or failed to report to ICE as instructed.
Neff explained that these arrests often involve those detained during routine ICE check-ins or after immigration court hearings.
The Deportation Data Project classifies its records as covering administrative arrests, which refer to detentions based on suspected violations of immigration law, though this does include individuals with previous convictions.
Notably, these records do not encompass criminal arrests linked to specific alleged offenses, typically executed by ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations division, which deals with more serious criminal activities such as human trafficking.
In fact, ICE’s own reports indicate that about one-fourth of all arrests made in 2024 were associated with criminal immigration investigations.
The individual stories behind these statistics are telling and highlight the human impact of these enforcement actions.
Alfredo Juarez Zeferino, a unionizing farmworker, was arrested on March 25 while dropping off his partner at work in the Tulip fields, despite having previous interactions with ICE resulting in orders of deportation.
Similarly, Armando Chaj, a homebuilder, was taken into custody after leaving church on January 26.
The cases of brothers Jeison and Cesar Ruiz Rodriguez further illustrate the trend of ICE targeting individuals with pending criminal charges, which originated from a family dispute.
These charges were dropped after their arrest, raising questions about the role local law enforcement played in alerting federal authorities, as reported by Jeison Ruiz Rodriguez’s public defender.
However, the records from the Deportation Data Project do not encompass the full spectrum of individuals apprehended by ICE, revealing a troubling lack of transparency in immigration enforcement.
For instance, on April 2, it was reported that there were 13 worksite arrests, while an ICE spokesperson confirmed 37 arrests of employees from the Mt. Baker Roofing Company in Bellingham, underscoring discrepancies in tracking these arrests.
Another case exemplifying this lack of clarity is that of Edipo Menezes, who was detained by ICE on June 14 following a surprise check-in notice given to many immigrants at the USCIS offices in Tukwila.
Menezes has a pending asylum application, yet his information was absent from arrest records but present in detention data from the Northwest ICE Processing Center, indicating previous ICE encounters.
Neff cautioned against relying solely on arrest figures to gauge the number of ICE detentions, stressing that this method does not present a complete picture of the agency’s operations.
He and other researchers advocate for examining booking records from the Northwest ICE Processing Center to corroborate increases in immigration arrests.
Currently, data indicates that 60% of detainees at the Tacoma facility are classified as non-criminal offenders, based on ICE’s own categorization.
The Trump administration is on track to execute the highest number of deportations since President Obama’s tenure, yet rapid pace will be necessary to achieve Trump’s goal of one million deportations this year.
As immigration enforcement continues to evolve, the narratives unfold behind the statistics reveal a complex and often troubling reality for many individuals caught in the crosshairs of ICE enforcement actions.
image source from：kuow
