What employers need to know if ICE activity ramps up in Puget Sound area
President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration has captured the nation's attention in recent weeks. Federal agents in January shot and killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis, setting off protests and bringing immigration enforcement under intense scrutiny.
The deaths, plus reports of Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in the Puget Sound area, spurred Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson last Thursday to announce measures to address a potential surge of federal immigration enforcement, including barring ICE from using city-owned property.
With ICE's efforts ongoing, employers are left to figure out best practices in protecting their workers.
"I think 2026 is an unknown in all the unfolding that can happen," said Tahmina Watson, founding attorney of Seattle-based Watson Immigration Law. "Any business that is employing immigrants, whatever spectrum of the statuses they may be, I think it's going to be important they have their paperwork straight."
https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2026/02/03/tahmina-watson-immigration-law-ice-trump-visas.html