ICE arrested roughly 700 people in Washington state in July, a new high in available federal data, and about 70% of those detained in June and July had no criminal convictions or pending charges.

The figures come from the Deportation Data Project, a University of California research initiative that obtains ICE data through public records requests. The Seattle Times reported the Washington-specific numbers on Aug. 27.

The July total is triple the roughly 230 arrests recorded in February and far above the approximately 50 arrests in December 2024, the last full month before President Donald Trump took office. The surge mirrors a national pattern: ICE arrested 49,571 people across the country in July, the highest monthly total of Trump's second term, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Seattle neighborhoods affected

ICE agents made at least 10 daytime arrests in Seattle neighborhoods since July 11, including in Queen Anne, SoDo, West Seattle, South Lake Union, Wallingford, Maple Leaf and Wedgwood, according to the Seattle Times. King County hot spots also include White Center, Tukwila, Shoreline and Burien.

The Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network reported 36 Seattle-area detentions between January and July 2026, more than double the 14 reported during the same period in 2025. All but eight happened between May and July.

Malou Chávez, executive director of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, said her organization received more than 2,500 calls for help from detained people and their families in July alone.

She said "mega" master calendar hearings in Seattle immigration court, which began in June, are issuing as many as 30 removal orders per hearing, including for children.

"That tells me the administration is creating new pools of people they can go after," Chávez told the Seattle Times.

Where and how ICE is making arrests

The Trump administration this summer set a target of 2,000 ICE arrests per day nationwide, according to reports including from The New York Times.

Separately, Graeme Blair, co-director of the Deportation Data Project, told NPR the surge reflects expanded tactics. ICE is arresting people at airports, at check-in appointments and at immigration courthouses.

In rural Washington, Leslie Cushman, coordinator of the Thurston Immigrant Solidarity League, said her group documented upward of 70 arrests around Thurston, Mason and Lewis counties since March.

She described ICE agents pulling over people in vans with construction or landscaping equipment, and picking up workers at gas stations, Walmart and Home Depot. Some were stopped on their way into the woods to pick salal and ferns sold to florists.

Jamie Ortiz, a volunteer with the Yakima Immigrant Response Network, said the network documented 31 arrests in the past week and a half as of Aug. 27.

Federal Way immigration lawyer Melissa Campos-Castañeda said the demand for representation grew so intense she stopped taking cases of detained people the week of Aug. 18. Seattle immigration lawyer Vicente Omar Barraza said ICE placed ankle monitors on a couple he represents rather than detaining them, a departure from the administration's usual practice.

Phil Neff, the Deportation Data Project's Seattle-based lead data analyst, said he was surprised to find that some of those arrested in Washington have not been detained. The Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, which holds roughly 1,600 people at capacity, held just under 1,460 as of mid-August, according to members of Congress who visited.

ICE is seeking contracts for new detention facilities in its Seattle jurisdiction and three others, with combined capacity for 5,500 detainees, NBC News reported on July 29.

No response from ICE or the Seattle City Council specifically addressing the July arrest data or the 70% no-criminal-record finding appeared in public records as of publication.