Seven U.S. Reps from Washington sign letter seeking more information on Bellingham ICE raid
Seven members of Congress from Washington state — all Democrats — have co-signed a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Todd Lyons regarding an ICE raid at Mount Baker Roofing on Wednesday in Bellingham.
Masked ICE agents detained 37 employees during the early-morning raid at the business and loaded them onto buses.
Wednesday’s raid comes just over a week after several farm workers were arrested in Ferndale by ICE agents, including political activist and union organizer Alfredo (Lelo) Juarez Zeferino, who was detained briefly at an ICE facility in Ferndale before being transferred to the privately-operated Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma.
The letter, which was sent to The Herald via email from Rep. Rick Larsen’s office Friday afternoon, is co-signed by Larsen (WA-02) and Reps. Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Suzan DelBene (WA-01), Marilyn Strickland (WA-10), Emily Randall (WA-06), Adam Smith (WA-09) and Kim Schrier (WA-08).
The full text of the letter follows:
“We write to express our deep concerns over the recent actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) across Washington State. We are especially alarmed at the recent ICE raid that took place in Bellingham, Washington. Raids like this have devastating consequences for our communities.
On Wednesday in Bellingham, ICE officers entered a workplace, pointed guns at employees, and took away 37 community members in unmarked vans. For months, the Trump administration has insisted that their deportation efforts are focused on ‘the worst of the worst’ and true public safety threats. In reality, there is no indication that the people detained this week are anything other than dedicated parents working hard to support their families and positive contributors to their communities.
Because of this raid and other detainments across the country, the fear of being taken away at gunpoint in unmarked vans is becoming widespread. This fear leaves students and employees scared to go to class and to go to work. It cripples our small businesses and local economies. And critically, it makes it more difficult for state and local law enforcement to build and maintain trust with the communities they serve. ICE actions like the raid that took place in Bellingham are making our communities less safe.
Every individual detained has a right to due process, including the right to speak to an attorney. We will be closely monitoring these cases to ensure that ICE is following the law.
To that end, we request that you immediately provide the following information:
Details on individuals ICE encountered during the enforcement action, including the number of people who were taken into custody, broken down by gender, age, nationality, immigration status, and rationale for targeting them in a raid.
Information on how many of those arrested had previously received a stay of removal, order of supervision or other form of prosecutorial discretion pursuant to prosecutorial discretion guidelines in place prior to January 2017.
Information on how many of those arrested have pending asylum claims.
The manner in which ICE may or may not have collaborated with state and local law enforcement agencies.
We look forward to your response.”