The Office of Law Enforcement Oversight (OLEO) has made seven community-driven recommendations to the King County Sheriff’s Office in a report on responding to increased federal immigration enforcement within the county.
“The recommendations aim to strengthen the Sheriff’s Office’s current policy to be more responsive to community needs, expand community education and outreach, and promote understanding by clarifying the existing policy language,” according to an Aug. 20 OELO media release.
OLEO partnered with The Arc of King County, Congolese Integration Network, Eastside For All, Look2Justice, People Power Washington and Urban Family to create this report. OLEO also consulted with the Sheriff’s Office to clarify its current practices.
“OLEO is grateful to its organizational partners and all the community members who participated in our outreach efforts,” said OLEO Director Tamer Abouzeid. “The feedback we received from the online survey and group listening sessions was invaluable and lead to recommendations that help the Sheriff’s Office be more responsive to community needs.”
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests at community sites, like schools and workplaces, have dramatically increased since 2025, according to the media release. As ICE arrests have intensified, community members have formed coalitions to protect immigrants and refugees. But there continues to be confusion and uncertainty about the role of local law enforcement, like the Sheriff’s Office, in responding to federal immigration enforcement.
“It’s important for the Sheriff’s Office’s policies to reflect what communities need in the face of increasingly aggressive immigration enforcement,” said Angela Ngiangi Diansasila of the Congolese Integration Network, a partner nonprofit based in SeaTac serving immigrants and refugees. “These recommendations help the Sheriff’s Office achieve more with their immigration policies and better protect vulnerable immigrant and refugee groups.”
The King County Council formed OLEO in 2006 to represent the interests of the public in its efforts to hold the King County Sheriff’s Office accountable.
King County Sheriff Patti Cole-Tindall received the report Aug. 13 and sent an email to Abouzeid, the OLEO director, about the next steps.
“We look forward to reading and learning more about how KCSO can better serve our communities,” she said. “We also look forward to discussing operational, policy, and budgetary implications associated with the report and its recommendations with OLEO, our community, contracting agencies, and county leadership including the King County Council.”
As the Sheriff’s Office is currently reviewing recommendations, OLEO plans to update the initial recommendation status no later than February 2027.
“King County is committed to supporting our immigrant and refugee communities and to protecting the rights, dignity, and safety of everyone who calls this region home,” Cole-Tindall said. “We also understand that public safety depends on trust, and trust cannot exist when people are afraid to call for help, report crimes, or engage with their local government.”
Cole-Tindall said KCSO will engage about the report and recommendations with affected contracting agencies, which include the Muckleshoot Tribe, 13 cities/towns, Sound Transit, King County Metro and the King County Airport.
“KCSO will conduct this review in partnership with the Executive Office,” Cole-Tindall said. “When the review and engagement is completed, KCSO will write a response that will be sent to the Office of Law Enforcement Oversight. As with reviews done with the King County Auditor’s Office, the department will indicate whether recommendations will be implemented, partially implemented, or not implemented. KCSO will indicate where recommendations are partially or not implemented because of external limiting factors (such as budget or federal, state, or local laws and policies).”
Recommendations
OLEO issued the following seven recommendations:
• Create a policy in consultation with legal advisors and community members directing deputies to intervene when they observe federal law enforcement agents engaging in unlawful excessive force.
• Continue to expand outreach to meet community needs, improve accessibility, and answer questions about immigration enforcement practices.
• Complete and publish audits of technology and data software contracts to ensure policy compliance and share contract details with OLEO.
• Partner with immigrant service networks to create a protocol for moving abandoned vehicles from roads to avoid the harms associated with towing and impounding when there are verified reports that a federal immigration enforcement agency has detained the driver.
• Track and regularly publish readily available information on federal immigration enforcement activity in King County without increasing communication with federal immigration authorities.
• Clarify the responsibilities of supervisors and require additional deputies to be present when responding to federal immigration enforcement activities to ensure full documentation of incidents.
• Remove the term “criminal immigration enforcement” from Sheriff’s Office policy and replace it with language that better captures the circumstances where the Sheriff’s Office may engage with federal law enforcement agencies.
Key takeaways
OLEO also released key takeaways of the report:
• A majority of the people who took OLEO’s survey on immigration matters (56%) reported that fears of immigration enforcement have impacted school attendance, healthcare access and other activities in their communities.
• Fears around immigration enforcement are impacting people’s relationships with local law enforcement in concerning ways, with 41% of survey respondents indicating they are less willing to call the police for help, 37% being less willing to report a crime, and a vast majority (70%) feeling more worried about racial profiling by law enforcement.
• While the Sheriff’s Office published an overview of their immigration-related policy and answered frequently asked questions (FAQ) on its website, survey participants want the Sheriff’s Office to do more to engage with the community on immigration issues to build trust and improve effective communication with the public.
• OLEO recommends that the Sheriff’s Office strengthen its current response to federal immigration enforcement activity to better protect the public by collaborating with community advocates to adopt practices of intervention when deputies observe a federal law enforcement agent using excessive force and when federal immigration enforcement agents leave vehicles abandoned after detaining a driver.
