King County limits immigration operations on county property, moves away from legal term ‘alien’

The King County Council voted on Tuesday to ban civil immigration operations from staging and processing on certain county property.

That means federal immigration agents will not be allowed to set up or operate in vacant lots, parks, private sections of county buildings, and other areas owned by the county.

It will now be up to the King County Executive to decide which specific locations are restricted.

King County Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda said the ban would not stop immigration agents from making an arrest in cases when they have a valid judicial warrant or court order for an individual. However, she said she’s concerned about large-scale immigration sweeps that fall outside that process.

“Our county properties are not going to be complicit and compliant with illegal direction from the federal government that is trying to impose arrests of our residents without judicial warrants and without a court order,” Mosqueda said.

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Earlier this year, immigration enforcement officers made a series of arrests in Issaquah as part of a greater immigration sweep where 12 people were detained, Councilmember Sarah Perry said. She added that federal agents during that raid staged their operation on state property and took people into custody "without identifying themselves."

Immigration arrests increased 300% in King County last year, according to a recent report from the University of Washington’s Center for Human Rights. Another report from InvestigateWest found hundreds of people in Washington challenged their ICE detention last year as unlawful, and the federal court agreed in more than half the cases.

RELATED: King County saw the most street immigration arrests across WA in 2025

During the meeting, Councilmember Regan Dunn raised questions about what the sheriff's office was supposed to do when encountering federal agents with a valid arrest warrant.

The measure directs the sheriff’s office to respond to immigration staging on county property and verify if agents have a judicial warrant or court order. If they don't, “officers will then inform ICE that they are violating our policy,” Mosqueda said. That’s when deputies would record video and document the immigration enforcement activity violating county policy for legal action, she added.

The ban would also extend to future contracts with nonprofits that provide health care, housing, or human services for the county.

The measure passed 7-1 with Councilmember Dunn voting against it and Councilmember Von Reichbauer excused from the vote.

"I continue to be opposed to King County’s expansion of sanctuary county policies like this one," Dunn said. "The ultimate result of these laws is that the King County taxpayers end up footing the bill for many millions of new dollars for community support services each year."

RELATED: King County bans immigration detention facilities, joining other Western Washington cities

The county’s ban echoes a similar one the Seattle City Council passed last week. Other cities and local governments have also passed similar measures.

In the same legislation passed Tuesday, King County also approved striking the word "alien" from its legal code. The term refers to people in the country who aren’t citizens and is often considered a derogatory word by immigrant communities.

A state law passed earlier this year requires local governments to strike the word "alien" from statutes and replace it with the word "noncitizen."

Alejandra Tres, co-founder of Communidad, a nonprofit group aimed at working with immigrant communities in Washington, worked with Mosqueda on the language change.

“Referring to someone as an 'alien' really creates distance and reinforces… exclusion,” Tres said. “When we replace that language, it's a meaningful step forward… building trust and ensuring that all of us, regardless of where we were born, feel recognized as part of the fabric of our region.”

The vote Tuesday was part of County Executive Girmay Zahilay’s first executive order in office, which directed the council to take up the legislation.

Meanwhile, Mosqueda acknowledged the new law isn't a guarantee against federal action.

"I don't want to give anybody a false sense of security, right? That the federal government under Trump and this growingly fascist and outright authoritarian regime is going to listen to local code," Mosqueda said.

"But we have to strengthen our policies to make it explicitly clear what is not permitted on King County properties."