Late into the evening of March 2, the Spokane City Council passed two ordinances seeking to limit federal immigration enforcement overreach. The next morning, a plainclothes officer with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) entered City Hall asking for a copy of the “Immigration Enforcement Free Zones” ordinance, according to city officials.
Both laws were approved by votes of 6-1: one banned the siting of any new detention facilities within city limits, while the other barred federal agents from using city property for any immigration enforcement activities — including staging and surveillance — without a judicial warrant. The officer wanted a copy only of the second ordinance, Council Member Sarah Dixit said.
City spokesperson Erin Hut confirmed that an agent was at City Hall the morning of March 3 and had asked for the new law. “These documents are public record and they were appropriately provided by the city clerk’s office,” she wrote in a statement to RANGE.
Dixit said staff told her that the officer flashed their badge at the front desk attendant — who had no indication that they were dealing with a federal official and not the Spokane Police Department (SPD) — who allowed them into the clerk’s office. It wasn’t until the person provided their email to the city clerk that it was clear they were with a federal agency and not local law enforcement.
The “abnormal” incident raised questions. Dixit noted the law and any related documents were publicly accessible through the city’s website.
“It didn't seem like this person was using intimidation tactics. I think that's why everyone was surprised by this interaction, because it was seemingly normal,” she said. “I think it's a helpful reminder for us to know what other additional security questions should be asked when an officer shows a badge."
The interaction prompted city officials to discuss rapidly formalizing precautions to verify the identities of visitors trying to access non-public spaces within the building, Dixit said. These additional protections would include verifying a badge number and ID, and confirming if the person is allowed past the public lobby and into restricted areas.
Dixit hoped the new protocol would be implemented by the end of the day to help ensure people felt safe at City Hall, she added.
“It's important for us to be accurate in how we're talking about this and describing it, because we don't want to raise any panic in the community,” Dixit said. “We know that there's a lot of misinformation and, when unverified reports happen, it can cause a lot of harm to our immigrant communities.”
City Council Member Paul Dillon said he found ICE’s presence at City Hall “extremely alarming,” and added that it wasn’t the first time federal immigration enforcement agents had made a show of power there.
In late August 2025, as the City Council was voting on the Safe and Welcome Spokane ordinance to protect ticketed street festivals and events from warrantless ICE searches, Dillon saw multiple Border Patrol officers standing in the Chase Gallery right outside council chambers as councilors voted on the ordinance.
The Spokane Sector of Border Patrol later issued a statement asserting that the ordinance would have “no impact to [their] border security operations.”
According to the statement, “Federal law supersedes local ordinances in matters related to immigration enforcement. U.S. Border Patrol agents, by law, are not required to obtain a warrant to arrest a subject illegally present in the United States … The Spokane Sector Border Patrol does not routinely conduct enforcement operations at public events and would only do so with a specific, lawful reason.”
While the U.S. Supreme Court has largely granted federal immigration agents the authority to detain people without a warrant in public under the Trump administration — including race-based “Kavanaugh stops” — judicial warrants are still constitutionally required for arrests in private areas.
The federal government has yet to publish a statement on the Spokane laws passed March 2, but the official ICE account of X posted its opposition last week to similar legislation passed in Everett, Wash., which also banned immigration enforcement activity on city property without a warrant.
Accompanied by a photo of Everett City Hall and snippets of their ordinance, ICE posted, in part: “Cassie Franklin, mayor of City of Everett, WA, escalates tension and directs city law enforcement to INTERVENE WITH ICE OPERATIONS AT THEIR OWN DISCRETION — putting everyone at greater risk. … If Mayor Franklin wanted to protect the people she claims to serve, she’d empower the city police with an ICE 287g partnership — instead she serves criminal illegal aliens.”
Regardless of ICE’s presence, Dillon isn’t worried about the legality or enforceability of the ordinances.
“We’re standing on firm legal ground and that’s that,” he said. “I invite them to learn more about land use in Spokane.”
