{"id":3168,"date":"2026-01-26T17:46:30","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T00:46:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/wellman\/?p=3168"},"modified":"2026-01-26T17:54:32","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T00:54:32","slug":"protecting-washington-from-ice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/wellman\/2026\/01\/26\/protecting-washington-from-ice\/","title":{"rendered":"Protecting Washington from ICE"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Dear neighbors,<\/p>\n<p>We are already a quarter of the way through our 60-day legislative session. Things are moving quickly, but we are working hard to pass as many bills as we can to protect Washington from the federal government\u2019s actions, especially its aggressive and violent immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n<p>I am horrified by the news over the weekend that ICE agents executed Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. This is another senseless act of violence committed by masked federal agents whose only goal seems to be harassing, harming, and intimidating people who live in Democratic-led cities. While the Legislature has limited ability to control federal immigration enforcement \u2014 and we cannot stop ICE from coming to our state \u2014 we must do everything we can to protect everyone who calls Washington home.<\/p>\n<p>My Senate colleagues have already introduced a number of bills to ensure our immigrant communities remain safe in Washington. Here are some highlights:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/app.leg.wa.gov\/BillSummary\/?BillNumber=5855&amp;Year=2025&amp;Initiative=false\">SB 5855<\/a>\u202fprohibits law enforcement from wearing masks when interacting with the public, protecting communities from aggressive and warrantless raids, and promoting transparency, accountability, and trust in law enforcement.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/app.leg.wa.gov\/BillSummary\/?BillNumber=6002&amp;Year=2025&amp;Initiative=false\">SB 6002<\/a>\u202festablishes reasonable regulations on automatic license plate reader cameras \u2014 such as Flock cameras \u2014 to prevent immigration enforcement from using them.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/app.leg.wa.gov\/BillSummary\/?BillNumber=5906&amp;Year=2025&amp;Initiative=false\">SB 5906<\/a>\u202fprohibits immigration enforcement from entering schools, daycare centers, hospitals, and other sensitive locations without a court order, so people can access essential services without fear.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/app.leg.wa.gov\/billsummary\/?BillNumber=5852&amp;Year=2025&amp;Initiative=false\">SB 5852<\/a>\u202frequires employers to notify workers about federal I-9 form audits, protects against retaliation, limits federal access to employment records, and establishes enforcement mechanisms and penalties to ensure that workers\u2019 rights are respected.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/app.leg.wa.gov\/BillSummary\/?BillNumber=5876&amp;Year=2025&amp;Initiative=false\">SB 5876<\/a> prohibits people who are not law enforcement officers from making, providing, or possessing badges or other law enforcement insignias. This legislation would help limit the sale, purchase, and possession of items with law enforcement insignias on them, ensuring legitimate law enforcement officers are clearly identifiable.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/app.leg.wa.gov\/billsummary?BillNumber=6286&amp;Year=2025&amp;Initiative=False\">SB 6286<\/a> expands the state Department of Health\u2019s authority to issue fines if and when private detention facilities, including those used as ICE processing centers, prevent the agency from entering their buildings for inspections. The funds generated from such fines would be used to provide financial assistance to people or families with members who have been assaulted, killed, or wrongfully detained by ICE.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These bills would bring additional transparency, accountability, and protection from the terror ICE is inflicting on our communities. But true accountability and oversight of ICE rests with Congress, so I hope you will <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/members\/find-your-member\">continue to contact Washington state\u2019s federal leaders<\/a> and make your voice heard.<\/p>\n<p>I also hope you will consider making your voice heard on these bills and others moving through the Legislature this session. Here are some ways you can get involved:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Learn\u202fhow a bill <a href=\"https:\/\/leg.wa.gov\/learn-and-participate\/how-a-bill-becomes-a-law\">becomes law<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Find legislation on the<a href=\"https:\/\/leg.wa.gov\/bills-meetings-and-session\/bills\/\"> issues important to you<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Watch your democracy <a href=\"https:\/\/tvw.org\/watch\/?eventID=2026011454\">in action on TVW<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Testify before <a href=\"https:\/\/leg.wa.gov\/bills-meetings-and-session\/session\/how-to-testify-at-a-committee-meeting\">legislative committees<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Stay in touch<\/h2>\n<p>As session continues to progress, I hope to hear from you about your ideas and concerns. My email inbox is always open, and my phone is always on. You can contact me via email at <a href=\"mailto:Lisa.Wellman@leg.wa.gov\">Lisa.Wellman@leg.wa.gov<\/a> or phone at 360-786-7641.<\/p>\n<p>Yours in service,<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2803\" src=\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/wellman\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/33\/2022\/01\/thumbnail_image006-e1643421985953.png\" alt=\"Signature of Sen. Lisa Wellman (D-Mercer island).\" width=\"245\" height=\"108\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dear neighbors, We are already a quarter of the way through our 60-day legislative session. Things are moving quickly, but we are working hard to pass as many bills as we can to protect Washington from the federal government\u2019s actions, especially its aggressive and violent immigration enforcement. I am horrified by the news over the weekend that ICE agents executed Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. This is another senseless act of violence committed by masked federal agents whose only goal seems to be harassing, harming, and intimidating people who live in Democratic-led cities. While the Legislature has limited ability to control&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":1240,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"disable_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Protecting Washington from ICE - Sen. Lisa Wellman<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/wellman\/2026\/01\/26\/protecting-washington-from-ice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Protecting Washington from ICE - Sen. Lisa Wellman\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dear neighbors, We are already a quarter of the way through our 60-day legislative session. Things are moving quickly, but we are working hard to pass as many bills as we can to protect Washington from the federal government\u2019s actions, especially its aggressive and violent immigration enforcement. I am horrified by the news over the weekend that ICE agents executed Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. This is another senseless act of violence committed by masked federal agents whose only goal seems to be harassing, harming, and intimidating people who live in Democratic-led cities. While the Legislature has limited ability to control...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/wellman\/2026\/01\/26\/protecting-washington-from-ice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sen. 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