Rumors and sightings of heightened ICE activity in Spokane circulate across the county; here’s what we know

Rufina Reyes, director of La Resistencia – a Washington state-based nonprofit that works to end the detention of immigrants – said she was recently in contact with a woman inside the Northwest Detention Center on the West Side.

The woman told Reyes there was no room; she had been sleeping in the hallway.

“The detention center in Tacoma is at full capacity,” Reyes said in Spanish. “It’s completely full.”

She said some of the detained people are reportedly from outside the state, while the majority are arriving from various parts of Washington, including Spokane.

Since President Donald Trump took office three weeks ago, both rumors and verified reports of heightened Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity have circulated in Spokane County .

Border Patrol declined to respond to questions on individual cases, but said in a statement that it is following the law in arresting people who have broken the law.

“The United States Border Patrol continues to enforce Federal Law,” said a Border Patrol statement provided by Edward Dean of the Spokane branch. “The Border Patrol will no longer catch and subsequently release aliens who have entered the country illegally. The Border Patrol will leverage all legal authorities that allow for the expedient removal of illegal aliens from the United States.”

Jennyfer Mesa, executive director of Latinos en Spokane, said ICE and Border Patrol agents are targeting Latino businesses in Spokane. She said that wasn’t happening prior to Jan. 20, the day Trump promised to begin what he said would be the largest deportation effort in the nation’s history.

“What’s happening is (federal agents) are picking people up in the city of Spokane – residents of Washington state, people who are here paying taxes, who are contributing to our local economy and who were once considered the heroes and essential workers” of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mesa said.

She has been receiving at least two calls per day reporting detentions, a sharp increase from the occasional call per week before Trump took office. So far, one had a notice to appear in court, while the others don’t have any criminal convictions, she said.

Because they are the organization’s clients, however, she declined to disclose specifics.

“One person told me that while he was being arrested, he was told, ‘Oh, don’t you recognize me? I was here. I was watching you break down the boxes,’ ” Mesa said.

An employee from an Atilano’s Mexican Food in Spokane was detained a few days ago before going to work, according to a person close to the worker who was detained. The person described the employee as reliable and a good worker. The person requested anonymity for fear of facing pressure from federal agents.

Simon Garcia, owner of La Michoacana Market in Spokane Valley, said he’s heard false rumors of raids in and near his business.

“Here what’s happened – people are putting on Facebook that they have picked up people at my business, all of which is false,” Garcia said in Spanish. “People are obviously scared, but this doesn’t help our business. Our sales have drastically gone down because of this.”

He stated that his clientele has dropped by at least 35% since rumors of raids at La Michoacana began spreading. While he reassures his clients that the claims are false, he also advises them to remain cautious, as they continue to navigate reports of ICE in the area.

Fernanda Mazcot, executive director of Nuestras Raíces Centro Comunitario, said in reaching out to Hispanic businesses she has received statements from five of them, the majority stating they are reducing their hours because of the lack of clientele at their businesses. Her organization is a nonprofit that assists Hispanic businesses.

A restaurant wrote to Mazcot in Spanish, stating that their business has experienced a 40% decline in clientele and expressing concern that Border Patrol and ICE are specifically targeting members of the Hispanic community.

Another restaurant wrote saying they have seen a 50% decrease in customers, many of whom are Hispanic and feel like their support from Americans has diminished. That business said it would cut hours because some workers were no longer showing up for their shifts out of fear.

“There’s a lot of anxiety, a lot of anger and sadness,” Mazcot said.

Mesa said that ICE agents are patrolling in unmarked vehicles, stopping individuals based on racial profiling, as well as standing outside of businesses and restaurants to instill panic and intimidation.

In some cases, this pressure has even led individuals to “sign their own deportation orders,” Mesa said.

In a Feb. 1 video circulating on social media, a Spokane woman named Kendall Diaz posted that her roommate was questioned by Border Patrol agents after people pretended to hit her car.

In her Facebook post, she said the agents were driving unmarked vehicles, a silver Dodge Caravan and white Nissan Titan. Two of the agents were dressed in regular clothing while the others were in their uniforms, according to her post.

“These people pretended to hit my car, which pulled me out of my house. The man asked me repeatedly who else was home and who owned my truck (I’m the legal owner) and then when my roommate came out, they surrounded him with AR-15s pointed at him,” Diaz wrote in her post.

Reached by phone, Diaz said for legal reasons, she couldn’t provide further comment.

In another instance on Tuesday, a formerly enrolled student was arrested by ICE officials on the Spokane Community College campus, due to a violation of their international visa, according to a SCC news release.

Surveillance footage obtained by The Spokesman-Review and Spokane Public Radio shows the student was stopped at 9:17 a.m. by an immigration official.

Three other immigration officers surrounded the student, and a vehicle pulled up alongside them. The interaction, lasting no more than one minute, showed them putting the student in the back of the vehicle and all driving away soon after.

The college states that the Office of Campus Security was notified by an ICE agent just prior to the arrest. Surveillance footage confirmed the arrest occurred near the entrance of the college’s student parking lot.

Prior to Trump’s new term, Border Patrol and ICE agents were not allowed to make arrests at “sensitive areas such as churches, schools or colleges.” That rule was suspended last month.

Mesa said based on the cases her organization is working on, individuals who have been arrested are taken to the Kootenai County Jail where they get isolated for days until sent to the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma.

“They’re completely fueled up and using all these horrible excuses to intimidate people, and then individuals get coerced into either being interrogated and detained,” Mesa said. “They get detained there for days, and then they get handed over again to Border Patrol and get sent to the Tacoma detention center.”

A relative of someone arrested on Jan. 29 said the person was in Idaho with a co-worker when both were taken into custody and held at the Kootenai County Jail.

The person said the family still does not know the reason for the relative’s detention, and all the relative’s belongings were taken.

Jail records show that in January alone, 22 people were booked into jail in Kootenai County on a Border Patrol hold – up from just four in December. All of them are sent to the ICE detention center in Tacoma.

Reyes said that before the current administration, the detention center in Tacoma held around 700 people. Now, that number has risen to over 1,000.

“We always said 700 was already too much, and now it’s way over 1,000,” Reyes said. “We are in constant contact with people in the center and they tell us that officials tell them more people are going to continue to arrive.”

Alycia Moss, immigration attorney at Moss Immigration Law in Coeur d’Alene, said she’s noticed the surge of Border Patrol holds in the Kootenai County Jail without seeing an increase of agents in the area, only confirming that most of the people in the jail are from Washington state.

“The Keep Washington Working Act from 2019 directed the Spokane County Jail not to be able to hold people, so the Kootenai County Jail is now doing that for Border Patrol and ICE,” Moss said.

Hector Quiroga, immigration attorney at Quiroga Law Office, said that the transfer of detainees to the Kootenai County Jail in Idaho is likely a response to interagency agreements between ICE and local authorities.

“Detainees’ rights do not change with the transfer. They still have the right to an attorney, to communicate with their consulate, and to receive a hearing before an immigration judge,” Quiroga said. “However, distance can make it difficult to access legal support and family members.”

He said if a family member has been detained, they should first try to look them up in the ICE detainee locator on the official ICE website.

“Also contact the Kootenai County Jail directly to inquire about the detainee’s status and request consular assistance,” Quiroga said. “Consulates can help locate detained individuals and provide legal guidance.”

Immigration attorneys can also verify a detainee’s status and provide steps moving ahead, he added.

In a news release sent Jan. 27, Mesa said Latinos en Spokane is requesting that the Washington state Attorney’s General’s Office investigate community fears regarding state residents being detained by federal officials within the state and being transported to Kootenai County Jail.

They are urging that if Washington state residents are detained, they remain in Washington to prevent family separation, stating this request aligns with the “Protecting Immigrant Families and Responding to Family Separation” executive order that Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson signed on Jan. 27 in Olympia.

The organization also is urging the city of Spokane to allocate a budget for legal and immigration services for affected families and required training for city employees on the Keep Washington Working Act.

Mesa said Latinos en Spokane is organizing an immigrant rights rally outside City Hall at 6 p.m. Monday to push for the city’s support.

“The rapid response for children, I think it’s a good effort, but at the end of the day, you’re preparing to have kids that can be left alone here because their parents are being picked up. That is horrifying,” Mesa said.

Latinos en Spokane has been hosting “Know Your Rights” workshops for community members across the county, including many Hispanic/Latino business owners in attendance.

Nuestras Raices Community Center and Manzanita House have been hosting similar workshops as well.

Mazcot, of Nuestras Raíces Centro Comunitario, said she anticipates that mental health needs will rise among immigrant communities, and her organization is prioritizing mental health services at locations in Spokane and Othello.

“This affects not just the individual, but it affects their families, it impacts the communities that they’re from, so it is a larger, broader picture that we have to look at, and some part of our focus at Raices is providing that support to the families, to the individuals, to the children and the community,” Mazcot said.

Both Mesa and Mazcot said their organizations are providing specific workshops for families to know what to do in case a family member gets detained. This would include knowing who would take action if that happens to a parent and having a list of medications of each family member and important documents.

“If and when people do get detained, there will be at least a plan for their kids, a plan for their assets, bank accounts, everything, because at this point, we just need to prepare for the worst,” Mesa said.

Spokesman-Review reporter Alexandra Duggan contributed to this story.