Washington ICE arrests drop 25% in July but remain comparatively high

Nina Shapiro and Manuel Villa, The Seattle Times on Aug 13, 2025

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SEATTLE — After a sharp spike in Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Washington arrests, the agency slowed down in July, according to data released this week.

ICE arrests in the state dropped 25% between June and July 29, according to government information obtained through Freedom of Information requests by the University of California's Deportation Data Project.

The 218 immigrants arrested in Washington in July still represent more than any other month but June since September 2023, which is as far back as the data goes. National data follows the same trajectory, with a slightly smaller dip in July arrests.

The Deportation Data Project's ongoing updates offer the best state-by-state look at how immigration enforcement has changed under President Donald Trump. Yet, the data is imperfect, with minor inconsistencies from one update to the next and obvious errors such as arrests not attached to Washington despite noted apprehension sites in the state.

Judging by the available data, the drop in Washington and national arrests is largely driven by ICE targeting fewer people without criminal records, although they continue to represent a sizable share of the total. Locally, the share of total arrests involving people without criminal records dropped from 56% in June to 42% in July. That compares with 38% arrested with criminal convictions and 20% with pending charges.

At times under former President Joe Biden, people without a criminal record made up an even greater share of total arrests, but that trend reversed near the end of his term.

Asked for an explanation of last month's scaled-back enforcement, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin cited a historic number" of court injunctions, such as a temporary restraining order in Los Angeles requiring immigration officers to have reasonable suspicion of people being in the U.S. illegally before stopping them.

Despite those court orders, "ICE continues to arrest the worst of the worst," McLaughlin said, without commenting on government figures showing many people arrested have clean records.

Other possible explanations for dropping arrests are guesswork because the enforcement system is "so opaque, said Tim Warden-Hertz, a lawyer with the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project. It could be that ICE is arresting fewer immigrants because the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, like other detention facilities around the country, is at or near capacity and there's no place to put people, Warden-Hertz said.

Or it could be that ICE simply couldn't keep up the surge of arrests carried out in June, said Phil Neff, a researcher with the University of Washington Center for Human Rights, which has issued a series of critical reports on immigration enforcement in Washington.

Another possible factor is shifting public opinion on immigration amid numerous stories of aggressive ICE tactics and people detained who have deep roots in the U.S. A June Gallup poll found a record 79% of American adults say immigration is good for the country. The poll showed 62% disapproved of Trump's handling of immigration.