Tukwila Passes 6-Month Ban on New ICE Detention Facilities

The Tukwila City Council unanimously approved an emergency six-month ban on the construction of new correctional and detention facilities. The Feb. 23 vote follows reports that federal immigration agencies were looking to expand their facilities, including leasing local office space.

More than 50 community members filled the chamber to oppose development of a new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in the city, arguing that it would further harm the community.

"This is the most packed I've ever seen," said Josh Castle, chair of Southend Indivisible, who helped organize community members to speak out against potential new ICE facilities. "If this [federal] administration is going to push as hard as they can, then a little city council, like Tukwila, has to also push as hard as they can. They have to be creative."

In December 2025, the city received a notice from officials from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) expressing an interest in building a new detention facility in the Seattle area. Then on Feb. 10, WIRED reported that the Riverfront Technical Park in Tukwila, owned by the Sabey Corporation, was among buildings nationwide being considered as a potential new office space for ICE and DHS.

A formal proposal to construct a new facility was never submitted, and there are no current plans, according to city staff.

Tukwila is a small city in King County with a population of around 21,000 people, of which 70% are people of color and 40% are foreign-born. The city is located just minutes away from the King County International Airport, which is used to charter private immigration flights and transfer immigration detainees. The city is also the home of the current DHS field office.

The moratorium, which takes effect immediately, would put a temporary six-month pause in the acceptance of new applications to build or change the use of an existing building to a detention facility. State law requires moratoriums to last six months but can be extended by cities as long as a work plan is being developed.

On Feb. 10, SeaTac became the first local city to pass a moratorium, and Seattle is considering a measure.

Any new proposal to build a correctional and detention facility would require significant land-use review along with a public notice, a public hearing, and council approval. This process would also apply if an office space was converted into a new detention facility.

However, if any building, including the Riverfront Technical Park, were to be used as an office space, the city said it cannot regulate lease agreements between private property owners and tenants.

Offices are allowed in the area where the Riverfront Technical Park building is located and permits are not needed for new tenants to occupy an existing space. But if new construction were to be proposed the city is limited to reviewing construction, not the use of the space.

Castle said that even a new DHS office space would harm the community. "It's more office appointments for people to show up, be detained, and then they can easily take them to Boeing Field and rip them apart from their families immediately."

Sabey Corporation, a Tukwila-based data center operations and medical research firm, owns the potential new office space and the current DHS field office in Tukwila. They donated $50,000 to President Donald Trump's inauguration.

Several councilmembers had a personal connection to immigration, which they shared during the meeting.

"This is something that I myself am living through every day," said Councilmember Jane Ho. "It's an experience that traumatizes and really haunts my family every single day," adding she has family members who have been detained and deported.

Prior to the council meeting, Tukwila Police Chief Eric Drever said at the council's Community Services and Safety Committee that he and Mayor Thomas McLeod recently met with DHS officials to discuss ICE operations in the city. Federal officials told Drever they were targeting people with criminal records, not schools or places of worship, he said.

Drever said that while Tukwila police haven't received any live, real-time reports about ICE activity, if such calls were to happen, police would be obligated to respond.

"We have a duty to intervene, to protect the community," Drever said. "If we see law enforcement, including federal agents, that are acting outside of their authority, we have an obligation to intervene."

Castle and many others are still skeptical of any comments made by ICE officials.

"They're taking the direction from the top; it doesn't actually matter what they say at that building," he said. "Right now, those people can't be trusted."