WA response team formed to prep for Trump’s mass deportation plans

Gov. Bob Ferguson signed an executive order Monday to create the Family Separation Rapid Response Team to help families of undocumented immigrants.

Gov. Ferguson holds up a signed piece of paper with a group of people holding signs behind him.

At Seattle’s Centilia Cultural Center on Mon., Jan. 27, 2025, Governor Bob Ferguson presents his executive order creating a Family Separation Rapid Response Team in response to the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. (M. Scott Brauer/Cascade PBS)

Washington is bracing itself for the Trump administration’s push to deport undocumented residents by forming a task force to map out policies and coordinate responses to such a move in this state. The task force will focus on how the state should deal with the splitting of immigrant families, which occurred during President Donald Trump’s first term.

“When it comes to mass deportation, we want to be prepared for that,” Gov. Bob Ferguson said Monday, as he announced the Family Separation Rapid Response Team at the Centilia Cultural Center in South Seattle.

Ferguson signed an executive order there to create the task force, which must have its first meeting by mid-February. No deadline was provided Monday on when the policies and the final response team will be in place.

The governor’s office, the attorney general’s office, the Washington State Patrol and the Washington Department of Children, Youth & Families will participate in the effort, as will schools, regional governments and immigrant interest groups.

Trump has called for massive deportations of undocumented residents. Ferguson said the feds have not yet indicated when these actions will hit Washington. The Migration Policy Institute, which advocates for immigration and integration policies, estimates that Washington had about 250,000 undocumented immigrants as of 2019. It estimated about 38% of those families have at least one U.S. citizen child under the age of 18. The group did not have information about adult U.S. citizen children of undocumented immigrants.

“Our [attorney general’s office] team has spent the past year preparing for this moment. ... Today, our immigrant community is targeted by a lawless president,” said Attorney General Nick Brown at the signing of Ferguson’s order.  

Attorney General Nick Brown looks on as Governor Ferguson discusses his new executive order. (M. Scott Brauer/Cascade PBS)

Several dozen people attended the signing event, periodically erupting into chants such as “No hate. No fear. Immigrants are welcome here.”

”We want to assure families that if this happens [in Washington to immigrant families], your children will be safe,” said DCYF Secretary Tana Senn.

After Ferguson signed the order, Roxana Norouzi, executive director of OneAmerica, said: “We feel not safe, but a little more secure in our communities.” OneAmerica is a Washington-based grassroots organization focused on immigrant and refugee issues.

A few days ago, the Trump administration announced that immigration enforcement officers can seize undocumented people in churches, schools and health care facilities — places declared sanctuaries by the Biden administration.

“It means ripping families apart. … The harms are profound to many, many families,” Norouzi said. So far, neither the governor’s office nor attorney general’s office have announced responses to the elimination of sanctuaries.

Last Thursday, Brown’s office obtained an injunction from a Seattle federal judge to temporarily halt a Trump executive order to remove birthright citizenship from the U.S. Constitution. The federal judge called Trump’s executive order “blatantly unconstitutional.” Washington and 21 other states are legally fighting Trump on this matter.

“President Trump does not get to decide who is American enough for citizenship,” said Gloria Gonzales Zapata. She was born in Seattle to immigrant parents from Mexico and Panama.

“Targeting immigrants does not make our communities safer. Instead, it spreads fear,” said U.S. Rep. Emily Randall, D-Washington.

Another countermeasure is in the works in the Washington Legislature. 

State Sen. Rebecca Saldana, D-Seattle, and State Rep. Julio Cortes, D-Everett, plan to soon introduce companion bills to head off another possible Trump administration move.

Currently, undocumented workers are eligible for federal unemployment insurance. The state of Washington collects an administrative fee from employers’ taxes for this federal insurance. Saldana and Cortes worry that the feds will eliminate federal unemployment insurance for undocumented workers. Their bills would use some of the money from administrative fees to set up a state insurance fund for unemployed undocumented workers.  

Activists and community members gather at the Centilia Cultural Center. (M. Scott Brauer/Cascade PBS)

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About the Authors & Contributors

John Stang

John Stang

John Stang is a freelance writer who often covers state government and the environment. He can be reached on email at johnstang_8@hotmail.com and on Twitter at @johnstang_8