SEATTLE — President Donald Trump’s rapid-fire executive orders on immigration left many Washingtonians wondering what exactly would change here.
Among Trump’s pledges and directives: mass deportations (not yet carried out in Washington), punitive measures against “sanctuary” jurisdictions like Washington (also not yet taken), ending birthright citizenship (blocked by a Seattle federal judge) and, announced Wednesday, opening an immigrant detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, to hold up to 30,000 migrants.
With so much going on, it’s hard to sort out rhetoric from actions, and harder still to figure out how Trump’s moves relate to past administrations and the complex workings of the immigration system.
We asked immigration experts to help make sense of it all.
How many people did ICE arrest locally before Trump took office?
Local arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement fluctuated during former President Joe Biden’s term. It’s hard to pin down exact numbers for Washington, because ICE publicly reports arrests only for a three-state region overseen by ICE’s Seattle field office, and the agency’s statistics are likely an undercount, according to University of Washington Center for Human Rights research coordinator Phil Neff.
That said, ICE’s figures and data received by the UW center under the Freedom of Information Act show the agency arrested between three and eight people a day in Washington, Oregon and Alaska over the last four years.
What happens to people arrested by ICE in Washington?
People arrested by ICE are generally taken to the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, the only immigrant detention center in the state and one of the country’s largest. They find themselves in jail-like conditions. Hunger strikes occur often amid complaints about the food, cleanliness and treatment by guards.
Those held at the privately run detention center may stay for as little as a day if they have already been ordered deported and can be put on a plane right away.
Others with pending removal cases may stay months or even years depending in part on whether they are eligible to be released on bond. Certain criminal convictions — and unproven accusations under the Laken Riley Act, which Trump signed Wednesday — trigger mandatory detention. In that case, people will be held until they either are deported or gain permission to stay in the United States.
Immigration judges make initial decisions. Those can be appealed, a process that will prolong detention.
Those judges also decide whether those eligible for bond will get it and, if so, how much those detained must pay to be released while their cases are ongoing. Bonds start at $1,500 but more commonly run between $5,000 and $25,000, said Matt Adams, legal director of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project.
How many people does ICE detain in Washington?
The Tacoma facility has 1,575 beds, between 800 and 900 of which were filled as of late January, according to an estimate from the immigrant rights project, which regularly visits clients there.
The detention center used to run close to capacity. But its population shrunk to below 200 during the pandemic, when immigration enforcement slowed, Adams said. A lawsuit by his organization amid COVID-19 outbreaks further reduced the number of people the detention center could take in. Its numbers began to climb back up as the pandemic ended.
What is asylum and can those seeking it be deported?
The United States grants asylum to those determined to have been persecuted or have a fear of persecution in their home country due to race, religion, nationality, social group or political opinion. People must apply for this protection while in the United States, unlike refugees, who apply for that status abroad. Asylum and refugee status provide a pathway to permanent residency.
People whose asylum cases are pending cannot legally be deported and can apply for a work permit, Adams said.
Still, he added, “if the Trump administration wanted to play hardball, they could round up many people who have pending asylum applications” and say “we’re still going to arrest you and keep you in detention while you’re going through the process.”
