As Detainments Increase, Seattle Dedicates $4M to Legal Defense of Immigrants

A $4 million budget increase for the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs (OIRA) will go toward community grants and legal defense for detained immigrants, Mayor Katie Wilson's office announced. 

Proposed in September 2025 amid a growing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) presence, nearly half the budget increase will help fund the City's Legal Defense Network (LDN), a program that provides legal representation to those who live, work, or go to school in Seattle during immigration proceedings. 

The additional funds will double LDN's annual budget by $1.25 million. 

"And yet we also know it's probably just a drop in the ocean bucket," District 2 Councilmember Eddie Lin said in an interview with the Emerald. "I'm just glad to see the money starting to get out the door, given the intense needs there."

In immigration court, defendants do not have the right to have an attorney appointed to them, leaving them to pay for their own or proceed without representation. In Washington State, over half of those appearing in court go unrepresented. 

Vanessa Gutierrez at Northwest Immigrant Rights Project says this funding is "desperately needed" as detainments continue to rise. 

"The stakes are so high in immigration court, and oftentimes it could be life or death," Gutierrez said. "Not having legal representation is limiting their ability to access due process and be able to get a fair hearing."

The increased funding comes weeks after the Seattle City Council passed an emergency one-year ban on the creation of new ICE detention centers. Most Seattle detainees are held at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, a facility with over 1,500 beds. As of March 10, the detention center was holding 1,016 detainees.

Last year, lawyers who represented LDN served 358 immigrants during removal proceedings, a press release said. 

Gutierrez hopes LDN's expansion will "fill in the gaps" for those who have restricted access to legal information. A former federal program known as the Legal Orientation Program provided consultations and intakes to those being held in detention centers. The initiative was shut down in April 2025 by the Trump administration.

With the new funds, OIRA will also offer community grants to aid grassroots organizations responding to federal immigration actions. From neighborhood alert systems to community aid, individual grants will go up to $10,000.

"We have to be prioritizing these basic safety nets," Lin said. "Whether it's things like rental assistance, food banks … we have to make sure we are not cutting these essential services."

OIRA will allocate additional funds in the coming months to immigrant inclusion services cut by federal funding, to community response, and to language-access programs. 

As federal policy changes, Gutierrez urges vulnerable communities to know their rights in the case they are approached by a federal agent, have a safety plan in the case of detainment, and have access to important documents.