(Spencer Pauley, The Center Square) Amid Seattle Police Department hiring gains, a recent television advertisement from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security actively recruiting Seattle law enforcement to Immigration and Customs Enforcement is frustrating city leaders.
The commercial includes shots of Seattle’s city landscape on a clear sunny day with Mount Rainier in the background, paired with booking photographs of men who are presumably illegal immigrants.
A narrator says, “Attention Seattle law enforcement, you took an oath to protect and serve. To keep your family, your city safe, but in sanctuary cities, you’re ordered to stand down, while dangerous illegals walk free. Join ICE and help us catch the worst of the worst: drug traffickers, gang members, predators.”
Recruiting new officers to the Seattle Police Department amid staffing levels being that are the lowest since the 1990s has been a top priority for Mayor Bruce Harrell and other elected officials. Harrell referred to the ICE ad as “political theater” that puts politics over public safety.
“The recent efforts by Immigration and Customs Enforcement targeting Seattle Police officers in their recruiting campaign using misstatements of both law and fact is disappointing and insulting to the oath that officers took when they raised their hands and swore to uphold the Constitution and serve and protect Seattle communities,” Harrell said in a statement shared with The Center Square.
According to Harrell, the Seattle Police Department has hired nearly 130 police officers so far this year, almost three times as many as the same period in 2024.
The ICE commercial also noted that new hires can receive bonuses of up to $50,000. This matches Seattle’s lateral hire bonus of $50,000 and is 566.7% more than the $7,500 for new hires.
Seattle is labeled a “sanctuary city” due to its “don’t ask policy,” which has been in place since 2003. The city law bars Seattle employees, including police officers, from inquiring about someone’s immigration status. ICE is left alone to conduct searches and arrests of illegal immigrants.
Seattle has not indicated any intention of revising its immigration policies despite the Trump administration’s August letters demanding it do so.
“Trump is trying to deport our neighbors while weakening the progress we’ve made on public safety as a pretext to sending in the National Guard. I have one message: Stay out of Seattle,” Seattle City Council President Sara Nelson said in an email to The Center Square.
Seattle Police Officer Guild President Mike Solan declined to comment on the matter, but signaled he may have something to say in the near future.
