Seattle-area councilmember urges community to ‘fight back’ against ICE

The meeting followed three Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests in Redmond: one at Bear Creek Shopping Center, another at Home Depot, and a third near Avondale Road. Police Chief Darrell Lowe told the council that Redmond officers confirmed the agents were federal law enforcement, but did not assist with their operations.

Pressed by Nuevacamina on whether the city could “intervene” in ICE operations, Lowe explained, “They are operating under federal law and federal authority, and federal law and authority supersedes that of a local jurisdiction, so we would not be able to interfere or intervene in their particular operations.”

Instead of accepting the legal reality, Nuevacamina said, “We’ve seen in other communities where it’s been the community then taking it upon themselves to, essentially, fight back against ICE in their communities. So basically, what we’re letting our community know is, ‘Hey, from a city perspective, we really can’t do anything, and it’s upon you then to stand up and fight back against ICE in our communities.’”

Chief Lowe replied, “I can’t support or advocate for that.”

He continued, “We are here to keep the peace. Individuals have a right to… conduct themselves in the manner they see fit. But we cannot support or advocate for… violence, or fighting against federal agents. Our role is to keep the peace.”

Nuevacamina interrupted to double down: “But the peace has already been broken, Chief.”

The councilmember was slammed on social media for what appeared to be a call to confront, obstruct, or even attack federal law enforcement.

On Wednesday, the Redmond Police Department (RPD) announced it has suspended operation of its automated license-plate reader (ALPR) system, widely known as Flock cameras, following a Nov. 3 recommendation from the city council.

Officials stressed that the pause is not due to any wrongdoing by RPD. Instead, it’s a political and public trust decision driven by concerns over how similar systems in other cities have been accessed or misused by immigration enforcement agencies.

At the council meeting where Nuevacamina said to “fight back,” the council unanimously voted to ask Chief Lowe to disable the city’s Flock network immediately. Lowe reiterated in the meeting that ICE has never accessed the network and legally cannot under the city’s arrangements.

According to RPD, Redmond’s contract with Flock Safety expressly prohibits data sharing with outside agencies. Any external request for ALPR data would require approval from the Chief’s office, and Washington State law bars the use of local police resources for immigration enforcement.

Before the suspension, the ALPR system was used to identify vehicles tied to criminal investigations, providing time-stamped data such as license plate numbers, make, model, and color. The department maintains that the system was not a tool for mass tracking of individuals, but a focused aid in missing-person cases, stolen vehicles, and serious crimes.

In its announcement, RPD outlined several safeguards that were already in place, including no cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, no ALPR data shared with ICE, and that automatic, nationwide data-sharing features were disabled.

The move by the Redmond City Council follows city officials in Auburn, Washington, moving to lock federal immigration authorities out of the city’s Flock Safety network after discovering that the US Border Patrol might have used the system intended to help catch criminals and locate stolen vehicles to track individuals suspected of immigration-related offenses.

Auburn disabled Flock’s “National Lookup” feature, which lets agencies across the country share and query plate data.

The fight over the Flock cameras and immigration is not limited to Washington state. In Eugene, Oregon, the American Civil Liberties Union sued the city after officials refused to disclose the locations of 57 Flock surveillance cameras, denying a public records request by a left-wing activist group Eyes Off Eugene. Residents launched a petition to cancel Eugene’s contract with Flock, and the city council voted to pause ALPR use as of October 14 while it decides whether to keep the tech.