ICE launches ad campaign to recruit Seattle-area police
Gustavo Sagrero Álvarez
Suspected agents with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement line the hallway outside a courtroom at the Seattle Immigration Court Wednesday. KUOW Photo / Gustavo Sagrero Álvarez
TV ads now airing in Seattle are trying to recruit local police to work for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
In a statement published Tuesday, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell called the ads disappointing. He said the ads misstate facts and the law, calling them “insulting to the oath that officers took when they raised their hands and swore to uphold the Constitution and serve and protect Seattle communities.”
The ads, which ran over the weekend between football games, opened with the words “Attention Seattle Law Enforcement,” but other cities, including Sacramento, Los Angeles, and Denver, have also seen similar ads targeting their local officers.
The ads from Homeland Security refer to Seattle as a sanctuary city, and they encourage police to leave their jobs to work for federal authorities, incentivizing potential recruits with cash bonuses and student loan forgiveness. They come at a time when Harrell’s office says the city has been making progress hiring new SPD officers.
“We are not going to compromise our high standards for law enforcement when the Trump administration tries to bully us into violating our own laws and values,” Harrell said. “We remain committed to building a police department that serves all people in our city with compassion, professionalism, and a clear commitment to public safety.”
The ads suggest local laws are getting in the way of that.
“In too many cities,” they claimed, “dangerous illegals walk free as police are forced to stand down. Join ICE and help us catch the worst of the worst.”
The vast majority of the people ICE has arrested during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown this year have had no criminal convictions. As of the beginning of this month, 70% of the people held by ICE in detention nationwide have no criminal record, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, or TRAC, which aggregates information gathered on immigration detention. At the Northwest ICE Processing Center, that number is closer to 60%, with the majority of detainees considered non-criminal. But even for those convicted, many have minor offenses like traffic violations or decades-old convictions.
The ads may be misleading in another way.
Washington’s so-called sanctuary laws, passed with the Keep Washington Working Act in 2019, draw boundaries for how local law enforcement can assist federal immigration enforcement, but state law doesn’t stop them from working with ICE. For example, the law prevents local police from making arrests based on immigration status, but it does allow local police to assist ICE on criminal investigations.
State law also has a carveout that allows the Washington Department of Corrections to turn over people federal officials think they can deport. That applied to just about 4% of the Washington prison population from April 2024 to this April; ICE had what are called detainers for around 500 of the roughly 13,000 people locked up during that time.