Advocates Urge Washington to Block Immigration Authorities' Access to Driver Data

At an Oct. 27 news conference at Casa Latina, advocates and community members urged elected officials to stop Washington's Department of Licensing from sharing drivers' information with federal immigration authorities, citing a surge in enforcement across the Seattle area.

"The surge is here," said Roxana Norouzi, executive director of OneAmerica. "It is happening right now, right here, in our home in Washington State."

Advocates also urged immigrant community members to stay informed, attend legal clinics, contact an attorney, prepare an emergency plan with family members, and store documents in a safe place.

The impacts of immigration detention echoed for community members like Alondra Miranda Garcia, whose father was detained on Oct. 17 and is currently at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma. She said he has no criminal record and has been living in the United States for more than 20 years.

Miranda Garcia broke down and cried as she recounted her father's detention. He was on his way to do a plumbing job in Burien when he was stopped by two unmarked vehicles and detained by immigration authorities.

"In an instant, our family's world was shattered," Miranda Garcia said. "Now we are left wondering when we will see him again, and we worry about his well-being. We miss his presence in our home."

The room was filled with grief and sorrow as other community members shared stories of the impacts of the recent surge. Those recently detained included a refugee from Laos, a 19-year-old student about to start her freshman year at the University of Washington, and caregivers who provide around-the-clock care to seniors and people with disabilities.

At the center of the room — adorned with candles, skulls, food, and papel picado, colorful sheets of paper decorated with patterns — stood an altar honoring people who had been detained or lost their lives in ICE custody.

"When an aggressive hunt sweeps through our neighborhood, no one is left untouched," said Savong Lam. "It traumatizes children who come home to not seeing their parents, destabilizes local workplaces, fractures our schools, and shatters the trust that keeps every community safe."

In the past several weeks, ICE leadership told agents to ramp up daily immigration arrests to detain 1,000 more people a day. Community members across South Seattle and South King County have shared on social media footage of these arrests, including in Burien and White Center, where an agent appeared to be carrying a rifle.

More than 50 people have died in ICE custody during President Donald Trump's second term. Their names were written on a scroll where community members placed marigolds.

Marigolds are typically used during Dia de los Muertos, known as Day of the Dead, which is a tradition celebrated in Mexico and parts of Latin America that honors and welcomes back the spirits of deceased loved ones. It is believed that the flower's scent helps lead the souls from their burial place to their family homes.

In 2025, the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE and other immigration enforcement branches, received $170.7 billion in funding from H.R. 1. Norouzi said that funding has played a large role in how communities have been impacted.

"[ICE] is way more organized, and they're way more cruel," she said. "The cruelty, the violence, the lengths that they're willing to go to, and the scale feels very different this time around."

A January report from the University of Washington Center for Human Rights also found that federal immigration authorities continued to access the state's Department of Licensing data through a national data-sharing system. Researchers documented queries of that data in connection with immigration enforcement actions.

"The ICE raids have been horrible," Norouzi said. "Over the last few months, the devastating growth of ICE raids, deportation, and detention has spiked to unprecedented levels."

Immigration advocates urged elected officials to continue funding and providing support to immigrant communities who fear deportation, stop the state from sharing data with immigration authorities, and cease the use of surveillance technology.

"We're here to demand change, and there is real change needed," Norouzi said. "We can't guarantee anyone's safety anymore. … We have to fight back and fight for the future we want, and that's what we're doing every day."

Miranda Garcia said her father is surviving "as much as he can" while in detention.

"It's been a struggle. We try not to miss work because we still have to be able to sustain ourselves," she said in an interview after the news conference.

So far, the family has raised more than $10,000 through a GoFundMe fundraiser to support their needs and is planning on doing bake sales to raise additional funds.

"We've had to make so many sacrifices already, so that just makes everything much harder," said Miranda Garcia. "We feel really lucky as a family to have each other, but we definitely have that missing piece in our heart."