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# ICE is arresting Washington workers on the way to their jobs. Arrests hit 700 a month.
- URL: https://www.workersrights.news/ice-surge-washington-caregivers-plumber-detained-on-way-to-work/
- Published: 2026-10-29T16:21:52.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-29T16:21:52.000Z
- Description: A Federal Way plumber and two SEIU 775 caregivers are among those detained, advocates said at a Seattle news conference.
- Author: WorkersRights.News Team
- Tags: Politics

Immigrant, labor and civil rights groups said Tuesday that an ICE enforcement surge has reached Washington state, and that agents are picking up workers on their way to jobs and in the middle of shifts. Among them: a Federal Way father stopped on his way to a plumbing job and two home caregivers represented by SEIU 775, one of whom was detained mid-shift.

"The surge is here," Roxana Norouzi, executive director of OneAmerica, said at the Oct. 27 news conference at Casa Latina in Seattle, [the Seattle Times reported](https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2026/oct/28/ice-surge-is-here-say-wa-immigrant-advocates-shari/?ref=workersrights.news). More than a half dozen organizations took part. They asked state officials to cut off immigration agents' remaining routes into Washington driver and vehicle records and to fund help for families left behind.

## On the way to work

Alondra Miranda Garcia said her father, who lives in Federal Way, was stopped in Normandy Park early on Oct. 17 while driving to a plumbing job. He is held at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma. "He's a hardworking, humble man who has spent over 23 years building a life centered around his family," she said, according to the Times. [The South Seattle Emerald](https://southseattleemerald.org/news/2026/10/28/advocates-urge-washington-to-block-immigration-authorities-access-to-driver-data?ref=workersrights.news) reported that she said he has no criminal record.

Lucy Vázquez-Martínez, field director at SEIU 775, which represents home care workers, described two detained caregivers. One went to a convenience store in the middle of a shift and was detained there. The other was detained at a check-in with immigration authorities. A client who needs round-the-clock care went without care for several days and had to be hospitalized, she said.

"We need you to act and slow down this mass deportation and detention machine," she told state officials, [the Washington State Standard reported](https://www.columbian.com/news/2026/oct/28/washington-advocates-renew-calls-for-state-to-limit-feds-access-to-license-data/?ref=workersrights.news). The Standard also reported that Chris Megargee, a volunteer at a Shoreline Home Depot, said ICE has detained about half a dozen men there since January, and that he believes agents ran the plates on their cars to find them.

## The numbers behind the surge

ICE arrested roughly 700 people in Washington in each of June and July, according to [KUOW's analysis](https://www.kuow.org/immigration/2026-08-28/new-records-detail-ice-arrests-during-summer-surge-yakima-seattle-top-the-list?ref=workersrights.news) of records the [Deportation Data Project](https://deportationdata.org/?ref=workersrights.news), run by UC Berkeley and UCLA, obtained from DHS through Freedom of Information Act requests. That compares with an average of about 342 a month in the four months before, [OPB reported](https://www.opb.org/article/2026/08/27/northwest-ice-immigration-arrests-surged-summer-data/?ref=workersrights.news). KUOW found that most people arrested on the street had no criminal record. Advocates say the arrests have kept coming since.

Many of those arrests start with a license plate. The University of Washington Center for Human Rights has [verified 356 cases](https://jsis.washington.edu/humanrights/?p=10109&ref=workersrights.news) from August 2025 through Oct. 13, 2026, in which immigration arrests followed federal searches of state Department of Licensing data through Nlets, a national network police use to share driver records. Its October report, [*Stopping the DMV-to-DHS Data Pipeline*](https://jsis.washington.edu/humanrights/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2026/10/Stopping-the-DMV-to-DHS-Pipeline.pdf?ref=workersrights.news), concludes that Washington's steps to curb that access "have been ineffective." Washington issues driver's licenses regardless of immigration status, and the 2019 Keep Washington Working Act bars sharing nonpublic personal information with immigration authorities in civil matters.

## What the state says

Gov. Bob Ferguson said Washington has blocked ICE accounts from searching Nlets. "There are only a handful of states that have taken this step, and Washington is one of them," he said in a statement. Other federal agencies still have access. The State Patrol blocked more than 174,000 federal search attempts from November 2025 through Oct. 12, the Standard reported, but UW researchers say agents switch to other accounts when one is cut off. Ferguson spokesperson Brionna Aho said the office is reviewing whether it can lawfully require judicial warrants for civil immigration requests and that shutting off access entirely is not an option for public safety reasons.

Asked about force used in arrests, DHS said its officers "are trained to use the minimum amount of force necessary." The agency did not address any of the Washington cases, and it offered no records to support its claim. Palmira Figueroa of the King County Immigrant and Refugee Commission said rapid responders have watched agents display pepper spray and guns, and that some people have been seriously hurt. "If this is what happens when we're watching, when we're taking video, what is happening when we're not?" she said. DHS's assurance also has to be weighed against Minneapolis, where federal agents [killed two American citizens](https://www.workersrights.news/doj-stops-sharing-evidence-good-pretti-minnesota/) during an ICE surge earlier this year.

We condemn an enforcement campaign that pulls caregivers off their shifts and leaves disabled clients without care. If you work in Washington, know your rights before agents arrive: read our guide on [what to do if ICE comes to your work](https://www.workersrights.news/what-to-do-if-ice-comes-to-your-work/), and see how [local police deputized by ICE](https://www.workersrights.news/ice-287g-local-police-deputized-29000-traffic-stops/) are turning traffic stops into arrests elsewhere.

### Sources

- [ICE surge is here, say WA immigrant advocates sharing stories of arrests](https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2026/oct/28/ice-surge-is-here-say-wa-immigrant-advocates-shari/?ref=workersrights.news) (The Seattle Times, via The Spokesman-Review)
- [Washington advocates renew calls for state to limit feds' access to license data](https://www.columbian.com/news/2026/oct/28/washington-advocates-renew-calls-for-state-to-limit-feds-access-to-license-data/?ref=workersrights.news) (Washington State Standard, via The Columbian)
- [Advocates Urge Washington to Block Immigration Authorities' Access to Driver Data](https://southseattleemerald.org/news/2026/10/28/advocates-urge-washington-to-block-immigration-authorities-access-to-driver-data?ref=workersrights.news) (South Seattle Emerald)
- [DOL Data Sharing Continues: Monthly Updates](https://jsis.washington.edu/humanrights/?p=10109&ref=workersrights.news) (University of Washington Center for Human Rights)
- [Stopping the DMV-to-DHS Data Pipeline](https://jsis.washington.edu/humanrights/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2026/10/Stopping-the-DMV-to-DHS-Pipeline.pdf?ref=workersrights.news) (University of Washington Center for Human Rights)
- [New records detail ICE arrests during summer surge. Yakima, Seattle top the list](https://www.kuow.org/immigration/2026-08-28/new-records-detail-ice-arrests-during-summer-surge-yakima-seattle-top-the-list?ref=workersrights.news) (KUOW)
- [Northwest immigration arrests surged in June, July, latest data shows](https://www.opb.org/article/2026/08/27/northwest-ice-immigration-arrests-surged-summer-data/?ref=workersrights.news) (OPB)
- [New UW report shows how feds gather Washington driver data to make ICE arrests](https://www.opb.org/article/2026/10/18/university-washington-ice-driver-data-immigration/?ref=workersrights.news) (KUOW, via OPB)
- [Deportation Data Project](https://deportationdata.org/?ref=workersrights.news) (UC Berkeley and UCLA)