Seattle bans new ICE detention centers for 1 year

The City of Seattle has passed an emergency, one-year ban on new ICE detention centers.

The issue gained urgency after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement put out a notice that it was looking for more detention space, including in the Northwest.

During Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck said she proposed the ban because the public asked the city to do more to protect immigrants.

“ We know that detention centers are sites of serious harm, and any expansion of them will only enable this federal regime to ramp up their inhumane, and in many cases, illegal enforcement actions,” she said.

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Public testimony during the council meeting gave accounts of ramped up immigration enforcement, multiple deaths of immigrants over the past year in connection to detention facilities nationwide, and the killing of Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis.

“A propaganda war is being waged on America by our federal government,” said Councilmember Robert Kettle who previously served as a Naval Commander with experience in the intelligence field.

Kettle said he sees this moratorium, as well as future immigration city ordinances, as a chance to call out inconsistencies, and poor leadership with how ICE is being run at the federal level.

He said one of the ways to counter government propaganda “is to show that… Seattle, as a West Coast, blue city can be run well… that we can be professional in what we're doing and, and how we're doing it. It's sometimes not what you say but how you say it and the approach that you take.”

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The City Council initially planned to vote on the moratorium last week, but had to make some adjustments before it could move forward.

“It's important that as we work on these bills, we do our due diligence on behalf of our immigrant residents in the city, and on behalf of all residents,” said Councilmember Mariza Rivera.

Rivera wanted to introduce amendments to the moratorium that would have resulted in competing bills but she decided a single unified voice was more important.

“ We're all aligned,” Rivera said. “We need to work together and support each other and not divide each other. And so I thought that was the right thing to do and I'm glad I did.”

Council members said they worried that a new detention center in the region would also bring an increased presence of immigration officers on the streets.

“This impacts all of us, regardless of immigration status,” Mercedes Rinck said. “ I refuse to be complicit in letting human rights violations happen within our city, under our watch, and we are not alone in this. With so many jurisdictions passing similar legislation within our region and more are on the way.”

The moratorium is part of a broader trend in Washington state. Seattle’s ban mirrors those passed by other local governments including Tukwila, SeaTac, Spokane and King County. Pierce County will discuss a proposed ban next week.

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The local and city jurisdictions are within what the Department of Homeland Security calls an “area of responsibility" for its Seattle regional office. But that area also includes Eastern Washington, southern Oregon, and Alaska.

The City of Tacoma is home to the region's largest ICE detention center. But the city passed rules about almost a decade ago to prevent the Northwest ICE Processing Center from expanding. The old contract to run the Tacoma center lapsed in September 2025. Details about a new contract remain scarce.

In December, the federal government outlined plans to expand its detention facilities within the Northwest area of responsibility, but it remains unclear whether that would mean expanding the Tacoma facility or building a new center somewhere else.

In a previous statement to KUOW, an ICE spokesperson said the agency has no plans for new detention centers in Washington state.

The Seattle City Council plans to take up a permanent ban after the one-year moratorium expires.