Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson, AG Nick Brown pledge legal action if ICE violates state residents' rights

Jim Brunner, The Seattle Times on Jan 26, 2026

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SEATTLE — Gov. Bob Ferguson and Attorney General Nick Brown are condemning President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown in Minnesota and say they’re preparing legal options to fight back if a similar operation ramps up in Washington.

At a news conference Monday morning, Ferguson said state officials cannot stop Immigration and Customs Enforcement from operating here.

But he denounced ICE’s tactics — including masked agents snatching people off the streets and breaking into homes without judicial warrants — as “deeply un-American” and “most certainly unconstitutional.”

Ferguson and Brown warned that they’ll be ready to file lawsuits and take other actions to hold the Trump administration — and individual ICE agents — accountable if they violate the rights of people in Washington state.

The news conference at the state Capitol had been scheduled before the weekend killing in Minneapolis of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old man who was shot to death by federal immigration agents.

But both Ferguson and Brown said Pretti’s death, and the dishonest response to it by Trump and his allies, only reinforces how dire a spot the country is in.

“The recent events in Minnesota have taken this un-American activity to an entirely different level,” Ferguson said. “Now, they are killing Americans for holding a camera. ICE is, to be blunt, completely and totally out of control.”

Brown said Trump’s deportation actions in Minnesota have only made that state less safe.

“America is weaker because of the operations in Minnesota, and real people all across this country are now traumatized, injured and dead because of this president’s fascist tendencies,” Brown said.

“What we’re seeing right now coming from Washington, D.C., is motivated by hate and bias, and it’s guided by the whims of the president, not the facts, not the courts, and certainly not the United States Constitution,” he said.

While he said he had no new information about any Minnesota-like ICE escalation in Washington, Ferguson outlined several steps, some that had already been announced, that his office is pursuing to hold ICE accountable.

He urged state lawmakers to quickly pass a bill that would prohibit law enforcement officers from wearing masks. He said he’s adding the head of the state’s office of immigration assistance to his cabinet meetings and has hired a senior immigration policy adviser.

Ferguson also said he met with Maj. Gen. Gent Welsh, the head of the Washington National Guard, about options for deploying the guard as a “buffer” between federal agents and protesters in the event of a federal ICE escalation here.

Both Ferguson and Brown also rebuked Trump and top administration officials for lying about the Pretti shooting.

Ferguson said he supports people who are tracking ICE activities, pointing to videos that have contradicted the administration’s claims about the Minnesota shooting. He said footage shot by observers is “deeply helpful” in the face of “the lies that came from federal officials.”

Pretti was armed with a pistol, for which he had a legal permit, but video shows he was holding a phone when confronted by agents, who wrestled him to the ground, removed the gun from his hip, and then shot him several times.

His death spurred renewed national protests, including in Seattle, where hundreds took to the streets on Saturday.

Pretti was the second person to be killed by a federal agent in Minneapolis in recent weeks amid major protests over an aggressive immigration crackdown carried out by masked agents.

Renee Good, an unarmed 37-year-old woman, was killed Jan. 7 as she attempted to drive away from agents in her Honda Pilot.

Trump administration officials have defended the shootings and reportedly moved to block independent investigations into the deaths, asserting that federal agents have broad legal immunity. They’ve also blamed the killings on protesters and on Democratic leaders in Minnesota and nationally.

On Sunday, Trump doubled down on his deportation tactics, demanding that Democratic-led states cooperate with the federal government to “enforce our nation’s laws, rather than resist and stoke the flames of division, chaos and violence.”

Ferguson and Brown had initially scheduled Monday’s news conference to respond in large part to a leaked ICE memo that claims its agents do not have to wait for a signed judicial warrant before busting into people’s houses.

Federal immigration officers have asserted they have the power to forcibly enter homes without a judge’s warrant, The Associated Press reported last week, citing an internal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement memo.

The stance is a sharp reversal from longstanding guidance meant to respect the constitutional rights of people during government searches.

The memo says ICE officers can use force, such as breaking down doors, to enter a residence based solely on narrower administrative warrants to arrest someone with a final order of removal.