Seattle is the only city in Washington state currently designated as a sanctuary jurisdiction on the federal Department of Justice’s published list, as of the October 2025 update. But the practical answer to which places in Washington are sanctuary cities is broader than that: because of a 2019 state law called the Keep Washington Working Act, every city and county in Washington operates under sanctuary-style rules by default, whether local officials use that label or not.
Seattle Is the One City With Its Own Sanctuary Ordinance
Seattle adopted its sanctuary policy long before the state did. In 2003, the city passed Ordinance 121063, which instructs all city employees not to inquire about anyone’s immigration status. The only carve-out is for police officers who have reasonable suspicion that a person has previously been deported and is committing or has committed a felony. The ordinance does not stop city employees from cooperating with federal authorities where the law requires it, but it draws a firm line around voluntary cooperation.
Seattle also identifies itself as a “Welcoming City” and runs programs aimed at immigrant and refugee communities. On the federal DOJ’s sanctuary jurisdiction list, Seattle is the only Washington city that still appears alongside the state itself.
Cities That Were on the Federal List but Were Removed
Earlier versions of the DOJ’s sanctuary jurisdiction list, maintained under Executive Order 14287 signed in April 2025, included four other Washington cities: Tacoma, Olympia, Everett, and Yakima. All four were removed from the updated list published in August 2025. The public listing did not explain why.
Their removal from the federal list does not mean those cities changed how they operate. All four remain fully subject to the Keep Washington Working Act, which controls what their police and jails can and cannot do regardless of any federal designation. The DOJ’s list is a federal characterization used to decide grant eligibility and other consequences. It does not override state law.
Lincoln County was also included on an earlier version of the DOJ list and responded by formally declaring that it is not a sanctuary jurisdiction.
Why Every Washington City Functions Like a Sanctuary City
Senate Bill 5497, the Keep Washington Working Act, took effect on May 21, 2019, and is codified primarily at RCW 10.93.160. It applies to every state and local law enforcement agency in Washington and sets a statewide floor that no local jurisdiction can drop below.
The core rules are the same in Spokane as in Seattle:
- State and local officers cannot ask about a person’s immigration status or birthplace unless the information is directly tied to a criminal investigation.
- Jails cannot hold someone based solely on an ICE civil immigration warrant or detainer. Release can only be delayed if a judge has issued a judicial warrant.
- Agencies cannot share nonpublic personal information, such as home addresses or release dates, with federal immigration authorities for civil enforcement.
- Jails cannot notify ICE of a person’s release date so agents can pick them up at the door, absent a court order or other legal requirement.
- No state or local agency may enter into a 287(g) agreement or any other arrangement giving local officers federal immigration enforcement authority. Existing immigration detention agreements had to terminate by November 17, 2019, with limited exceptions.
Jails also cannot let federal immigration agents interview someone in custody about a civil immigration matter unless the person signs a written consent form, available in at least English and Spanish, that explicitly states the interview is voluntary and that refusing carries no penalty. School resource officers acting in their official capacity face the same restrictions and cannot collect immigration information from students or families.
Judicial Warrants Versus Administrative Warrants
A recurring source of confusion is the difference between the two kinds of warrants ICE may present. A judicial warrant is issued by a judge after review of evidence for probable cause, and local law enforcement must comply with a valid one. An administrative immigration warrant is issued internally by a federal agency like the Department of Homeland Security and signed by an immigration officer. It does not carry the same legal authority. Washington jails are not required to honor administrative immigration warrants as a basis for holding someone, and federal courts, including the Ninth Circuit, have recognized that detaining a person on an ICE administrative detainer without a judicial finding of probable cause raises serious Fourth Amendment problems.
Counties and Sheriffs That Have Pushed Back
Because Keep Washington Working is a state law, all 39 Washington counties are bound by it. Not all of them accept that quietly. Four counties have been identified as resistant: Adams, Douglas, Klickitat, and Yakima.
Adams County has drawn the most direct legal action. In March 2025, the Washington Attorney General sued the Adams County Sheriff’s Office, alleging it had illegally held people in custody based solely on their immigration status, let federal agents question people in custody without the required written consent, and routinely shared confidential personal information with immigration officials. The lawsuit asks the court to order the Sheriff’s Office to comply with state law. Settlement negotiations had been underway before the filing but collapsed after the change in federal administration in January 2025.
Klickitat County Sheriff Bob Songer has been publicly vocal about his willingness to cooperate with ICE, posting on social media to invite federal officials to contact his office.
These local disputes illustrate a real tension. The state law sets the rules, but enforcement depends on the Attorney General’s willingness and capacity to pursue noncompliant agencies one at a time.
What Violating the State Law Can Cost
The Attorney General’s office has said that agencies violating the Keep Washington Working Act face civil liability, with taxpayers absorbing any resulting judgments or settlements. Individual officers who intentionally violate the law may face personal civil liability, and in some circumstances intentional violations could also constitute criminal conduct under Washington law. The Adams County lawsuit is the clearest example of enforcement to date, but the AG’s office also publishes detailed guidance for law enforcement agencies on how to handle ICE interview requests, detainers without judicial warrants, and similar scenarios.
What This Means for People Living in Washington
The Keep Washington Working Act does not and cannot prevent federal immigration agents from doing their jobs. ICE and Customs and Border Protection keep full authority to make arrests, conduct investigations, and carry out deportations anywhere in Washington. What the state law does is draw a line around state and local resources. Washington police officers, county jail staff, and state employees are not available as force multipliers for federal civil immigration operations.
In practical terms, if ICE wants to arrest someone in Washington, federal agents have to do it themselves with their own personnel. Local police will not detain someone for ICE pickup. County jails will not extend someone’s incarceration past their release date so ICE can arrive. State agencies will not hand over personal data to help ICE locate people for civil enforcement.
One more boundary is worth noting. ICE rescinded its long-standing “sensitive locations” policy on January 20, 2025, ending the blanket rules that had limited enforcement at schools, hospitals, and churches. The Keep Washington Working Act encourages public schools, health facilities, courthouses, and shelters to limit immigration enforcement on their premises to the extent consistent with federal and state law, but “encourage” is softer than “prohibit.” State law cannot stop federal agents from acting on their own authority at those locations. So while state and local officers in Washington will not be the ones asking about immigration status at a hospital or a school, federal agents now have broader discretion to operate at those places than they did before January 2025.
The Short Answer
If the question is which Washington cities are officially designated sanctuary jurisdictions, the current answer is Seattle. If the question is which Washington cities operate under sanctuary-style rules limiting cooperation with federal civil immigration enforcement, the answer is all of them, because the Keep Washington Working Act applies statewide. The cities where that answer is contested in practice tend to be in counties whose sheriffs have publicly resisted the state law, most notably Adams, Douglas, Klickitat, and Yakima counties.