County violated WA law restricting coordination with ICE, judge rules

A judge ruled Friday that an eastern Washington county illegally aided federal immigration enforcement, in violation of a landmark state law restricting such coordination.

The Adams County Sheriff’s Office is now barred from continuing to coordinate with civil immigration agents and must revise its policies to align with the Keep Washington Working Act, the state’s so-called “sanctuary” law, and train its deputies on the policy.

“This is a victory for the rights and dignity of all Washingtonians, regardless of where they were born, and an affirmation that local law enforcement cannot be co-opted by the federal government,” Attorney General Nick Brown said in a statement. 

In a lawsuit last year, Brown accused the sheriff’s office of flouting the law by sending nonpublic information about local jail inmates to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents. 

Sheriff’s office officials also allowed federal officials to interview people while in custody and detained people in jail based solely on civil immigration warrants or detainers, Spokane County Superior Court Judge Marla Polin found.

The information the sheriff’s office shared with the feds included inmates’ release dates, allowing federal immigration officials to take custody of them upon release.

The collaboration went on for at least four years, Polin wrote in her order Friday. Between May 2021 and March 2023, the sheriff’s office released at least half a dozen people directly to Border Patrol officials from jail. Three of them had no local charges pending against them.

In one example, a Border Patrol agent was allowed to speak to two people incarcerated at the jail who were not told they were talking to an immigration agent, according to court papers. When they were released, a Border Patrol agent was reportedly waiting for them. The county reportedly agreed to a $95,000 settlement this summer with one of the men after he filed a lawsuit over the transfer to federal custody. 

Adams County “violated KWW each and every time it sent a new in-custody list to federal immigration officials, as it did on a routine basis between 2019 and mid-2023,” Polin wrote.

Lawmakers passed the Keep Washington Working Act in 2019. It bars local law enforcement from helping federal immigration enforcement. Friday’s ruling marks the first time a judge has upheld the law in court, batting down a challenge from the county that the law is unconstitutional. Polin’s decision aligns with rulings on similar statutes across the country. It followed a court trial in July.

“Today’s ruling allows our state to continue building trust and confidence between law enforcement and immigrant communities as the federal administration undermines those efforts with its draconian policies,” Brown said.

After the law’s enactment, Sheriff Dale Wagner didn’t direct his deputies to change their practices, despite guidance from the state attorney general’s office that other sheriffs adopted.

State attorneys told Wagner in late 2022 that they were concerned his office might have been violating the Keep Washington Working Act. Two years of negotiations between the state and county followed to bring it in compliance with the law. During this time, Wagner told staff to stop sending jail custody lists to immigration officials.

After President Donald Trump retook office in January 2025, the county’s stance shifted, according to Brown’s office. The next month, county attorneys asserted in a letter to Brown that “Adams County has obligations under federal law that directly conflict” with the state law.

The Trump administration has targeted local and state governments across the country that have laws similar to the Keep Washington Working Act, threatening to withhold federal funding from them. Trump has launched a campaign to deport as many immigrants as possible from the country and restrict them from coming in the first place.

In an email to many other Washington sheriffs in May 2025, Wagner asked them to “lawfully partner with the federal government,” and defy the state law.

Adams County is home to about 20,000 people in southeast Washington. Ritzville is the county seat. Its economy is driven by farming, and in turn workers without legal immigration status.

Wagner didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The county’s attorney, Joel Ard, referred a request to Wagner.