ICE arrests at Washington immigration court spark fear of fast-track removal

Nina Shapiro, The Seattle Times on May 21, 2025

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SEATTLE — Something unusual happened when attorney Sofia Velling went to a Seattle immigration court hearing Tuesday with an asylum-seeker. Out of the blue, she said, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement attorney moved to dismiss deportation proceedings against her client.

Stationed in the hallway outside were several ICE officers — a rare sight in the court, housed in a federal office building downtown. Those who have hearings there typically have no reason to be arrested by ICE since they are already in deportation proceedings.

Yet, ICE officers appeared to arrest at least three people — two men and one woman — there Tuesday. Officers led the three into an elevator in handcuffs and waist shackles. ICE officers questioned and released a fourth person.

Velling's client, a Venezuelan woman who applied for asylum shortly after arriving in the U.S. in December 2023, was not among those arrested or questioned. But what happened at the client's hearing earlier, Velling and other immigration attorneys believe, is connected. The attorneys suspect ICE is attempting to dismiss immigration court cases so it can fast-track deportations through a process — called expedited removal — that does not involve judges.

Someone in expedited removal can be put on a plane leaving the country in a matter of hours, said Matt Adams, legal director of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project.

The ICE officers at immigration court said they were not allowed to talk to the press. An ICE spokesperson did not respond to inquiries.

If the attorneys' suspicions are true, ICE is carrying out the Trump administration's latest strategy to amp up deportations, which have been lagging behind the massive numbers the administration has said it wants. Immigration attorneys said such an approach would deny people the right to have their cases heard in court.

"It feels like an underhanded way to circumvent protections for people," said Gabe Harrison, a Bellingham immigration lawyer who saw the ICE officers outside the courtroom.

Harrison also worried the presence of ICE officers and possibility of arrest would scare people away from attending hearings. That would likely result in removal orders handed down because they didn't show up, which can also lead to quick deportation.

Tuesday morning, ICE officers followed two men who left the courtroom and went into a hallway bathroom. When the men came out, they took one immediately through a door off another hallway. The officers got the other man's name and walked away. Then, an officer circled back after checking his phone and took the second man through the same door.

The officers released that man soon after.

Later, ICE officers opened the door and brought out the three in handcuffs and shackles. Under previous administrations, the government used expedited removal to arrest people within 14 days of their arriving in the U.S. unlawfully. They also had to be within 100 miles of the border. President Donald Trump, in an executive order soon after taking office, expanded the policy so it could be used for unauthorized immigrants anywhere in the U.S. who arrived in the country within the last two years.

People in deportation proceedings who file an asylum application, like Velling's client, normally can be detained but not deported until a judge reaches a decision on their application. But if the proceedings are dismissed, the asylum applications are no longer pending, said Velling, who works for the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project.

"They can be picked up," she said.

At least, ICE can do so unless those with dismissed proceedings have a chance to file a new asylum application with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Immigration court hears asylum applications for people in deportation proceedings while USCIS handles such applications for everyone else.

Velling, at her client's morning hearing, objected to the government dismissal request and the judge gave her time to submit an argument. When the attorney left the courtroom with her client, she saw ICE officers standing by the elevator. They said nothing.

But the episode left Velling shaken.

"It was really shocking," she said. "I felt scared for my client."

She said she feared even more for those without attorneys who could object to requests to terminate proceedings.