The Tacoma City Council has voted, unanimously and without much hesitation, to keep federal civil immigration enforcement off city turf unless City Hall gives the green light.
The new measure, introduced by Councilmember Olgy Diaz and co-sponsored by Deputy Mayor Joe Bushnell, Sarah Rumbaugh and Sandesh Sadalge, blocks federal civil immigration agencies from using city property and gives Tacoma a clear legal path to push back in court through injunctions or declaratory relief.
What the Ordinance Does
Filed as Ordinance No. 29105, the move updates Chapter 8.19 of the Tacoma Municipal Code to spell out what counts as “civil immigration enforcement” and to ban it from city-controlled space. That includes municipal buildings, parks, parking lots, vehicles and other property under city control.
Under the ordinance, agencies such as ICE, CBP and other civil immigration actors cannot use city property for staging, processing, surveillance or deployment. The measure carves out specific exceptions so it does not interfere with federal actions backed by a judicial warrant or efforts to carry out a criminal arrest.
The ordinance also orders city departments to report attempted uses of municipal property for civil immigration enforcement and, where it is feasible, to put up physical barriers or signage that make the limits clear. The official filing and full ordinance text are available on the City of Tacoma Legistar page.
Council Members Frame the Move
Council members cast the ordinance as both a practical move to protect city operations and a signal of support to immigrant communities that have been on edge over federal activity in the area.
"Good stewardship of city resources and ensuring that the services our taxpayers fund are delivered efficiently, safely, and without disruption remains incredibly important to us," Diaz said in a statement, according to KOMO News.
Co-sponsors said the new limits build on earlier council actions and are meant to keep city property reliably available for the public uses it was created to serve, rather than as a backdrop for civil immigration operations.
Local Context and Public Pressure
The vote followed weeks of increasingly vocal public pressure. Local immigrant-rights groups have been turning up at meetings and organizing demonstrations, urging the council to put stronger guardrails on ICE activity in Tacoma and highlighting ongoing criticism of the nearby Northwest ICE Processing Center.
Reporting by The News Tribune traced how recent council resolutions and community forums, coupled with that pressure, pushed city leaders toward a more concrete policy, culminating in this ordinance.
Legal Limits and Enforcement
The ordinance makes clear that Tacoma is not trying to opt out of existing state or federal requirements. Instead, the council is leaning on the city’s authority as a property owner to control what happens on its land and in its facilities.
The measure includes a severability clause, in case any portion is challenged, and authorizes the City Attorney to go to court for injunctive or declaratory relief to enforce the policy.
State guidance on the Keep Washington Working Act outlines how local governments should limit cooperation with federal civil immigration enforcement. City leaders said that framework helped shape Tacoma’s approach, citing the Washington Attorney General guidance alongside the ordinance language posted on the City’s Legistar site.
With the unanimous vote, the council entered the ordinance into the municipal record and instructed the city clerk and city attorney to clean up any technical details. Implementation steps the ordinance contemplates, such as signage, barrier installation and reporting protocols, now move to the city manager’s office and affected departments to work out in practice.
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