Seattle Police Prioritizing ICE’s Records Requests Over Citizens’
While many journalists and Seattleites wait years for the Seattle Police Department (SPD) to fulfill languishing public records requests, the SPD is fulfilling Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) requests for information in less than four days.
After HardPressed previously received no response from Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office concerning how frequently the city was sharing records with ICE, HardPressed submitted a records request aiming to force disclosure of information.
Four months after submitting this request, Harrell’s office provided six pages of records as a first installment.
(In comparison, the Mayor’s office has previously provided hundreds of pages of records within an installment release. Harrell’s office also pushed the estimated fulfillment date for the next installment of records past the city’s mayoral election in November, where Harrell faces a formidable challenger in Katie Wilson.)
The initial six pages of records provided by Mayor Harrell’s office show that ICE is requesting information on people the SPD has charged with lowly crimes such as drug possession and fourth degree (gross misdemeanor) assault, which can be charged with no injury and for something as simple as a push. It is unclear based on the limited information and redactions made by Harrell's office within the released records if the individuals SPD arrested were ever convicted of a crime.
In April, SPD fulfilled one of these ICE requests for records in less than four days.
In contrast, SPD has grouped HardPressed’s public records requests, indefinitely delaying them through a procedural pathway that other journalists and lawyers have criticized repeatedly. The Seattle Times is currently suing the city of Seattle over the city’s grouping policy, alleging that it violates the Washington State Public Records Act (PRA).
No federal or state law requires SPD to expedite processing of ICE's requests for information over anyone else's. In fact, the SPD has previously asked city hall in 2020 if "we should continue to process and redact these [ICE] requests as we would a PDR [public disclosure request]." The PRA requires that "agencies shall not distinguish among persons requesting records," however, in essence that's what's occurring behind closed doors within SPD headquarters.
HardPressed submitted an additional public records request to Mayor Harrell's office asking for further records showing how the city processes ICE's records requests. Initially, Mayor Harrell's office told HardPressed that due to "sensitive immigration-related information" that under RCW 42.56.540, the Mayor's office "has the right to notify named individuals that disclosure has been requested. We are exercising this option to provide them notice and allow them to seek an injunction if desired."
Mayor Harrell's office initially provided HardPressed a deadline of 19 days to receive a response from the notified individual and provide the records to HardPressed. However, it's unclear if the city took similar steps, to notify the target of ICE's records requests, allowing them an opportunity to seek an injunction in the span of only four days that it took for SPD to fulfill one ICE records request.
While SPD “punishes journalists” by grouping their public records requests, according to the Seattle Times’ lawsuit, the SPD is prioritizing ICE’s requests for information, fulfilling them at warp speed.
When asked if SPD groups ICE's requests for information together in the same way the department delays journalists' and citizens' records requests, the SPD did not respond.
For this report, HardPressed also sent questions to ICE, Mayor Harrell's office and the Director of Seattle's Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs Hamdi Mohamed. None have responded.
Update 10/8/25: SPD Sgt. Patrick Michaud responded, writing that SPD does not group ICE's records requests together “Because they are a federal agency, any records requests get processed outside the PRA - meaning, they do not fall under the City's MDAR which sets forth the grouping policy.”
HardPressed has followed up with Michaud again, asking what law requires SPD to expedite ICE requests for records within a pathway separate from the PRA.
Michaud's reference to MDAR refers to the city of Seattle's Multi-Departmental Administrative Rule 17-0002.